His Own Path
by Razzack
Summary: Before Starr's fireteam was assembled to battle the Darkness together, the other Guardians had their own teams, lives, and missions. This is the story of one of their resident Titan's, Raz.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: First, I do not own Destiny. Bungie and Activision do. My characters are mine though, so back off. Second, this is my first story, and so it may have a few hiccups. So I will take any and all criticism with a grain of salt. This was actually inspired by a friend's story, In His Footsteps, go check it out, it's awesome.**

Ch. 1: Immortals

The Fallen, Hive, Cabal, and now the Vex. Humanity's enemies seem to be growing at an exponential rate, and no allies are in sight. Planets had fallen quickly and at a high cost when these separate groups began their crusades against our people. But humanity gotten lucky and a mysterious sphere had shown up before the Darkness, the Traveler, and helped pull humanity out of it's rapid decline. That was years ago, the death toll was still too high, and some blamed the Traveler's appearance for this destruction.

All these thoughts were interrupted as an artillery shell crashed into the instacrete ceiling above the heads of the Mars 114th Heavy Armor Infantry detachment. Several heads rose from watching the ground or at the wall. The ceiling groaned loudly for a moment and held. Silence returned as the Cabal artillery could be heard firing on other positions. The Cabal had been pushing at the borders of the fortifications for months. Testing the defenses.

Men Scrambled towards the viewport and raised their rifles. They knew this calling card. Artillery fell and soon the Legionnaires followed with Centurion command. Human artillery could be heard falling in the background and the barks of several high powered sniper rifles echoed across the Red Waste. The soldiers had lined up with their Staff Sergeant and with their weapons aimed down range.

"Prepare to fire on those sons o' bitches when they come over that dune!" The burly man called out, and not even a second later the first Cabal appeared.

It had dropped in less than a heartbeat. Auto rifle fire filled the air and the defenders took turns reloading and calling out targets. This was a daily routine, and it always ended the same. The last Cabal finally hit the sand and twitched one more time as it's dark blood mixed into the Martian surface. Another victory for humanity, and another day in Hell as the Waste now had more bodies to fill it. Turning it into a massive graveyard.

Silence, it was thought to be a good sign for soldiers. A sign that all was well, you had survived and your foe did not. But it wasn't great, or even good at all, it could be deafening, it gave them too much time to think. To imagine what awaited them outside, what other horrors their numerous enemies had for them. This new silence was occasionally broken by a woman's cursing as she fiddled with a now silent radio.

"Damnit…" The radio began to produce static. "Well this piece of shit is busted!" She called over her shoulder while tossing a screwdriver away. "Petty Officer, you got any ideas on how to fix this?" She called out as her helmeted head swiveled over to the large man by the viewport. His response was a silent shrug.

"I could take a look, Corporal."

The dust of Mars was slowly making it's way up the walls of the bunker line, and Petty Officer Smit was more interested in fixing the now broken radio than the nothing that expanded around them. He was an augmentee to this army detachment as a technician, and he was starting to regret it.

Stifling back a yawn he realized that his adrenaline was finally wearing off and with a slight grimace Smit grabbed the thrown screwdriver and placed it in a pouch on his belt. Checking the seals on combat armor he approached the door and punched the release button. He felt a hand on his shoulder hold him back slightly, and his head swiveled back to see the Corporal from before.

"You aren't going out there alone, the Staff Sergeant has authorized that Romeo-101 and I follow you out there and give you cover." The Exo behind her nodded in agreement as it checked the sniper rifle in it's hands.

Smit nodded to the pair and entered the airlock with them and they exited into the bright light of Mars. The visor on his and the Corporal's helmets polarized to compensate and their heads swung around looking for any residual Cabal troops. Seeing nothing they turned around and climbed up to the top of the bunker. Giving them a better view of the surrounding area. The far off crashes of the conflict echoed across the waste as Smit looked at the remains of the radio antenna.

"Well shit." Smit grumbled. "I'll see what I can do."

"If you require assistance, I can view things at a much closer proximity than your eyes can." Romeo commented. This comment caused Smit to look up from the remains of the antenna and give the machine a sideways glare.

"Are you even rated to fix these things?" He asked Romeo skeptically. The Exo shook his head and they both turned away from each other. Returning to what they were doing before. The Corporal fidgeted slightly as she cradled her rifle and glanced between the two of them. The awkward silence that formed around her was nearly suffocating.

"So Petty Officer-"

"Call me Brian." He cut her off and reached for a small wire. "It's easier than calling me by my rank all the time.

"Alright, Brian, you can call me Kara." She paused to take a breath. "Is that thing even salvageable?"

"Yeah, well only a little bit. The majority is toasted, no joy on most of this. So I am just rigging a short range radio to bounce off of the other bunkers." Pulling out the screwdriver he tightened down a wire bundle and began stuffing it into the husk of the radio antenna. "We got lucky that this wasn't a direct hit, or we would be going silent."

Smit dusted himself off as he looked at Romeo, the machine never even turned around to face him. It's attention was pulled to something far off, sniper raised and aimed down range.

"We should return to the inside. Cabal armor and heavy infantry are inbound." Romeo informed as he turned finally to face them and walk towards the ladder. "We must warn the Staff Sergeant, and radio the other bunkers." Romeo ignored the sarcastic salute given by Smit and waited for the two to enter the airlock on the bunker.

Silence was not something that the trio expected from the bunker as the reentered it. Everyone had loaded the heavy machine guns and rocket launchers. Having placed them by the viewport. The opening of the hatch had drawn everyone's attention and had answered the question of if they knew about the incoming forces.

"Orbital is down, last evac for the civvies, wounded, and VIPs just left." One of the soldiers, a private, informed them. "The Cabal are pushing on all fronts, Freehold just fell, and they are pressing all the fronts." The private continued before the first artillery shell crashed into the bunker.

Another shell crashed into the roof of the bunker and it was followed by another and another. The lights flickered a few times and then died as the ceiling began to crack. The panicked yells of the soldiers filled the air as the few who had remained at the viewport began to open fire. Their shell casings bouncing off the floor and calling the others into action. Several of them grabbed the heavy machine guns and the heavy chugging sound of heavy rounds filled the air.

With all the rounds and rockets flying down at the advancing Cabal, it did nothing to slow them down. They continued to advance, the Phalanx shields deflecting most rounds and explosions. Leaving most of the smaller cabal unharmed and bringing them even closer to the Human defenders.

The Phalanx's broke rank only to allow one of the many hovertanks to slide out and close in on the bunker line. It's main gun positioning itself on one of the anti-air emplacements and quickly destroyed it, allowing the first wave of dropships to fly in close. This opened a new type of panic with the troops as the Cabal were heard pounding on the bunker's reinforced door. Troops scattered as they tried to realign themselves to take on the new threat from behind.

"We're so screwed, man!" One of the soldiers cried out as his helmet swiveled from one side to another. "There is no way we are getting out of this alive!" The man continued before tossing his rifle aside and running for the armor lockers to shut himself in.

The rest of the troops hesitated before slamming the emergency shutter over the viewport down and aimed at the new threat. Watching the door bend slightly with each crash, and listen to it creak ominously.

The door didn't last long until it was ripped off it's hinges and flew into the opposite wall. It crashed to the floor with a resounding clank and was quickly drowned out by the return of the remaining 11 auto rifles. The darkness was illuminated by the sporadic fire and the clattering of the shots against metal only pointed out one thing to these men and women. They were shooting the hardened shield of a Phalanx. Which quickly slid back as soon as the weapons ceased firing.

As the Phalanx backed off. the smaller Psions poured in a massive wave and vaulted Void energy crossed the room and sent a pair of men into a wall with a sickening crunch, their armor doing little to cushion the impact. A Psion dropped to the floor with purple blood oozing out of it's chest. This didn't matter much as more Psions came charging in and soon it was only Brian and Kara left standing.

"I don't want to fucking die like this!" Kara cried out over the sounds of her's and Brian's gunfire. Before she could continue Brian felt something crash into his armored shoulder and he shoved Kara with his free hand before realizing she was now suffering the same fate as him. They were being buried by rubble, but she was on the edge, whereas he was more towards the middle of the pile.

"Out! You have to go! Hide before they get in here!" He grunted as he tried to force some of the rubble off of him. It wouldn't budge, he was stuck, but he wouldn't let her be. He reached as far as he could and grabbed a piece of instacrete and pulled back as hard as he could in his awkward position.

Kara snaked her leg out before crawling over to him and looked over him quickly. The shellshock on her was evident, she hadn't heard him telling her to go. He didn't want to doom her and he roughly shoved her away. She grasped at him but he pushed again, sending her tumbling away from him.

"Go on! Hide-!" He began coughing and the biosigns on his HUD began to blind him as warnings began to blend together and he blinked to swipe them all away.

During his moments of daze he looked back up at the fading light in the sky, and realized that it wasn't the sky, it was the underbelly of the tank that had apparently rammed the bunker. He shook his head as he realized that the little fuzzy lights were due to his blood loss and the engine status lights. His hands found purchase on a weapon's handle and he pulled it closer to him, and after a brief tug of war with what he hoped was his stuck rifle. It turned into a discarded rocket launcher.

"Well, why not?" He slurred with a dark chuckle, Petty Officer Brian Smit tilted it up and at the closest exhaust port. He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them for one last time as he pulled the trigger and released the rocket. It seemed to glide out in slow motion and into the hovering engine not two feet in front of him, and he felt his body being pushed by the force of the launcher, and as his body twisted he felt the added force of the explosion wash over him, and then the searing flames before he felt nothing.

Kara screamed in horror as she watched the explosion under the tank from her place between a table and the wall. The fireball spat out of all sides before a chain explosion caused the tank to careen to the side and crash into the ground before the other engines stuttered and died. She didn't wait long to rush out and try to find his body, but the area was scorched and she couldn't distinguish any of the now scattered parts. Dropping to her knees she ignored any warnings her hud had brought up and looked down and back as she followed the lines of the Centurion's gun. The bayonet easily piercing the side of her chest before she let out a huff of breath and collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

**End note: I know it's short. But as I get into writing more I'll be making bigger chapters. So bear with me on this one.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Once again I don't own Destiny. Bungie and Activision do. My characters are mine though. Also, an OC from In His Footsteps will show up this chapter and probably next one. I hope this one turned out better and I am improving. Thanks and review please!**

CH 2: I want to feel that power surge

The ruins of what had been dubbed the 'Shattered Dome' stretched out before a single Warlock. His robes billowing slightly in the small breeze across the Martian surface. The scout rifle in his hands was held in a loose grip as he, well his Ghost, analyzed the body of the Cabal Psion his fireteam had caught out in the open.

"Seems like it was just a scout." The Ghost informed the group.

"Well damn, I was hoping we had come across a large patrol or something." A female voice announced with distaste. "I mean, we have a bounty for a whole weapons caravan and only find this bullshit." Her distaste was punctuated with a swift kick to the dead Psion.

The Warlock looked over his shoulder to the small Titan woman. Shaking his head he returned to looking at the broken Dome before them. Something was telling him that he needed to go there, and find out what had happened. What that place actually used to be called, and how many of those people had escaped their dooms there.

"Well quit whining, I got some movement closer to the Dome." A third voice cut into his thoughts. "It's small and quick. I think it's a Ghost."

"Well where is it's Guardian?" The woman asked again. Her heavy helmet swiveled back towards the other man, a Hunter. Who only responded with a shrug.

"Well," began the Warlock, "Ghosts only go out alone for one reason." He called out his Sparrow and mounted up. "To find their Guardians. So let's go." He sped off without even waiting for the other two.

"Wait! Damnit Sushi! Get back here!" The woman yelled before turning to the Hunter and pointing in the direction of the Warlock. "Entity! We have to after that dumbass!"

"We have a bounty to complete, Joanna. So we'll let the Warlock do his thing, I don't want to waste too much time on this." The Hunter shook his head and hefted his sniper rifle as he trudged down the other side of the dune.

Joanna roared in frustration before grabbing her own sniper rifle off her back and following after Entity.

.

The light of the sun reflected dimly off of the grime covered Ghost. It may have been born of pure Light, but it didn't have a Guardian to dedicate itself too. This led to it leading a never ending search for someone to follow and aid against the Darkness. This troubled the Ghost.

"No… I know you are around here somewhere…" The Ghost whispered to itself as it entered a shattered prefab building. "I can feel your Light coming from- AH! There you are!" The Ghost exclaimed as it went to analyze what looked to be a skeletal arm with a bit of armor on it.

It spun in place for a moment scanning the surrounding sand and muttering to itself as it seemed to be looking for something else.

"Where is the rest of you?" A pause. "Also, I don't think that one is yours." The Ghost moved away from a fractured skull and began to break apart into separate nodes a into a large light filled sphere. Pulling the different pieces of matter together to start the creation of a body and armor before it.

"You truly are miraculous creatures aren't you?" A voice softly spoke from behind and was followed by padded footsteps.

The Ghost didn't waiver from it's mission in trying to piece back together the remains of the now forming Guardian. The bones clicked into place as muscle and sinew began to form over them, and the body was growing. Larger than the Ghost had anticipated, and his thoughts were voiced by the Guardian who watched the whole ordeal.

"You sure you are putting one person back together? Or is it two?" The mechanical voice let the Ghost know he was dealing with an Exo. By the sound of the inquisition behind him, a Warlock most likely.

"I'm certain, he is just larger than most other, uhhh, people."

There was a huff of breath and the two different machine's attentions were brought back to the now armored being who was drawing first breath in this new life.

It was as if nothing had happened. The local news was playing over the Trans-Net and a tac-pad sat in front of him with his augmentee orders. An army detachment? He may have scored well with the field exams in simulators aboard a few ships he worked on, but actual duty now? Alien invaders everywhere and they want to put a salty sailor on the ground? He chuckled to himself.

Sudden noises from somewhere else in the home drew his attention away from the pad in front of him. He watched silently as two little blond girls came careening into the room around the corner. One of them slid across the floor in a panic as her socks refused purchase. The other one took advantage of this and latched onto one of his legs.

"Papa! Papa! Papa! She said I can't see mama! She is lying!" They both began yelling at the same time. One of them clearly frustrated and the other distraught.

"I don't care what either of you said, now behave, the ship leaves early tomorrow, are you finished packing?" His tone was exasperated and he looked up at the ceiling briefly as if saying, "Lord why now?"

"I finished!" The second girl spoke up. Her blond ponytail bobbing up and down vigorously.

The other one just shook her head and her ponytail swung into her twin sister. Causing the two to start squabbling all over again. He silenced them with a hand on each of their heads.

"Melissa, stop making your sister cry, and go help her pack. You both are going to go see momma, and you may be staying at your nan's for a little longer than I told you." He smiled at them and they both took off running.

When he turned back to look at the news he heard a high pitched screech and his heart nearly stopped. His head whipped around and that's when things stopped making sense. The wall between the hallway and kitchen had been blown out and he could see the sand of Mars piling up inside.

"Melissa! Erica! Where are you!" He yelled out and launched to his feet, a rifle appearing in his arms.

Cabal. He saw them standing by his daughters. They weren't doing anything, but talking in their squawking voices. He let out a yell as he launched himself at them, but one of them was ready as it tackled him back to the ground. The other one began to squawk again, in English?

"Keep him from thrashing about! He'll tear himself apart!"

"I really think you put some extra bits in on this one! Or something on backwards!" The one on him yelled back. Why did it sound like an Exo?

A panicked voice rang out in his mind, they were in his home! His head swiveled and he saw his girls take off into the winds of the dunes.

"No! Don't! I have to get to them!" He yelled out as he wrestled with the Psion.

"Calm down! Get to who- Oof!" The Psion was cut off as he felt a fist crash into his chest and then his face and was sent sprawling to the side.

This was the opening he needed, his man's thoughts were all in shorthand. Get the girls away, breath, left hand, right foot, right hand, left foot, and repeat. It carried on this way until he rolled out of the ruined building and his momentum carried him down a dune and landing on his chest. With a heavy grunt he pushed himself up and unsteadily got to his feet and took off at a shaky run towards the Dome.

"Wait! Guardian! Come back!" The other Psion cried out as the man took off. Seeing as he wasn't returning, he took off after the newly revived human.

Joanna pushed the last of the Legionnaires to the ground as it bled out and looked over the massacre that had occurred. She let out a contented sigh as she admired her handiwork for the day.

"Hey, I got a lock on where Sushi went." Entity spoke up from where he leaned against his Sparrow. "He left his beacon on and is close to the Dome. Looks like he is about to enter it actually."

"Well fucking stop him! There are Vex and Cabal in there as far as we know." She stomped her way over to Entity. "Don't you dare say he isn't our problem, you suggested we bring him along because he was a damn good shot. But he is a Warlock, he wouldn't last ten seconds in there alone."

The Hunter considered her claims closely before shrugging and pulling out his Ghost. He let it encrypt the channel before speaking to it.

"Hey Sushi, you satisfy your curiosity yet?" He asked dully.

"He's getting away, Warlock!"

"I know that! How come you can't control your own Guardian?"

Entity looked up at Joanna and he could 'feel' the bewildered look she was giving the Ghost in his hand for the transmission. He suppressed his own sigh as he decided to repeat himself. This time Sushi heard him.

"Oh yeah, it's satisfied, plus my jaw seems to be unhinged too!" The other Exo yelled into the broadcast. "The asshole punched me as soon as he saw me! But he went running into the Shattered Dome! We have to get him out before he gets torn to pieces!"

Entity sighed as he cut the feed and mounted his Sparrow. Joanna did the same and the two blasted off across the wasteland to find the Warlock and the baby Guardian who was causing him so many problems.

It was dark in here, but it didn't matter, the location was familiar to him. After winding his way through several hallways and finally settling to slide down a wall in what appeared to be a small pub back when people lived here. The man began to think, and something was wrong.

"Where did they go? When they'd take off they always came to Dexter's." He asked muttered slowly.

Them more he thought, the more this made less and less sense. The last thing he could remember was a Cabal tank, a rocket launcher and the explosion leading to nothing. But he couldn't remember his name, or figure out why he was still alive. The explosion should have killed him and left nothing but scattered remains left. So why was he chasing his daughters? They should be at their nan's.

In the dim light he looked at his hand, the armored glove was unfamiliar, a different make than he was wearing in the bunker. He clenched his fist and felt a small surge of energy rush through him and towards his hand. He banged his head into the wall as he tried to push himself away and throw the electricity that appeared in his hand.

"What the fuck?!" He cried as he reached up with his other armored hand to feel his right hand. It didn't hurt, no it felt fine, if not even better. His thoughts were brought to a close as he heard boots echoing in the halls and it was followed by subdued voices.

"Are you sure he went this way?" He recognized it from earlier and pressed himself closer to the wall. The Cabal were after him still.

"Yes, Sushi, I make my living mainly tracking and doing things you can't do. Which right now seems to be a lot." This was another one? It sounded a hell of a lot like Romeo, but being Cabal they probably weren't going to be as friendly. He needed a plan.

He edged away from the door frame and peered around the room. He nearly pulled back in shock when he spotted what looked like to be skeletons in the corner. Huddled together in obvious fear. They were only briefly seen as the search lights that were being used moved on.

"Well shit. Split up and search these rooms. I doubt you could even track him in here Entity." A female voice ordered. Cabal had women?

"Who died and made you Queen of the Reef?" The second voice questioned.

"Just fucking do it! The faster we do this the faster we get Sushi out of his search with Twinkles here!" The woman angrily responded.

"I am a Ghost! Not a Twinkles!" That was the other Psion from earlier. He was trapped.

The voices seemed to be drifting closer as well as the lights. Snapping him out of his thought process he looked around quickly and got back to his feet. Racing across the room he vaulted over the bar and right onto a pile of rubble. Creating a clattering that echoed for a solid twenty seconds. As he tried to press himself further into the backside of the bar he felt his hand brush something. Grabbing it he realized it was an auto rifle grip. Pulling on it he heard the rubble shift slightly as the damaged rifle came free, it wasn't pretty but it had a magazine already loaded and at least a third full. He finished inspecting the clip and slid it back in and prepared himself.

"I know I heard something from in here."

"I think you are just paranoid, Joanna."

"No. She is right, I can feel his Light coming from this room. He is hiding in here."

"Thank you, Twinkles. Now can you pinpoint him or are we going to have to dig around here?"

"You won't get that chance." The new Guardian announced to them as he stood up from his hiding place aiming his rifle at the one with a hood and cape.

They all raised their firearms in return at him and an awful silence followed.

**Post A/N: Yep, cliffhanger, cause I'm an ass. Well Entity belongs to Reilly.216. So I'll be opening for some OC's here in the near future so prepare your Guardians.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This one took a little longer and I apologize. I travel a lot for work and for those of you who are reading this I hope your patience has been rewarded with this new chapter which is now my longest. I don't own Destiny, Activision and Bungie do. Entity is being loaned to me by a good man named Reilly.216. Make sure to check out his story, that is Entity's origin, which I think is coming together nicely. Enjoy.**

CH 3: Two minds that merge

The howling winds from outside the dome could be heard in the silence that had formed from the cluster of Guardians. All of their weapons were raised and ready, anticipating who would fire first. The three different colored Guardians aimed at the single bare white armor of the man behind the bar top.

"By the Queen…" The woman spoke up suddenly while lowering her shotgun, and quickly elbowed the hooded one.

"Entity, you can be the only Hunter to have claimed to have found Sasquatch!" She followed up with a fit of rolling laughter.

"Who is-? What?" The Exo who sounded like Romeo responded confused, and lowered his own rifle in response.

Seeing as the other two weren't taking this situation as seriously anymore, Sushi lowered his scout rifle and let it dematerialize so he could raise his hands in a nonthreatening manner. He took a few tentative steps towards the still cautious and apparently paranoid man before him.

The movement caught the other man's attention and the man whipped his rifle around to point it at the one he had punched earlier. The man, not a Cabal he mentally reminded himself, had stopped suddenly and raised his hands even higher. With no other motions made, and no shots obviously being fired, the other two decided to leave Sushi be with the mystery man.

"Look man… Calm down and we'll get you out of here and back to Earth." Sushi quietly requested of the man. "I promise."

After a few more brief tense moments the man nodded and complied with slowly lowering his rifle. He held on to the rifle tightly as he was ready to raise it again in a heartbeat. Prepared if the other two came back and he needed to fight. Kicking those negative thoughts aside he made his way from behind the counter and towards Sushi and the pair of small floating bundles of angles and lights.

"So, this may be a little rushed. But I need to form with you." One of the little glowing things spoke up. The little eye it had seemed to focus on him and he froze like a deer in the headlights, his rifle half raised in caution. The Ghost paused in it's advance towards him.

"You need to do what?" His voice croaked and sounded rough due to lack of use. His raised tone caught the attention of the other two and they returned from their conversation outside the room.

"Did you hear that? Sounded like a fucking Baron." Joanna muttered "You get your vocal chords all messed up or something when your Ghost put you back together?"

"I what?" He croaked in a slightly upset tone. "I don't remember-" He stopped talking as the memories came flooding back to him and he realized that he had indeed, died.

"Well that doesn't matter, we have to get you to the Tower where it's safe." Entity spoke up.

"I'd say you could handle yourself because of your sheer size, and according to Sushi you got quite a punch, but your gear is absolute shit. So let's get you home."

It was during this conversation that one of the Ghosts had rocketed forward before anyone could react and broke apart into motes of light before the man who was now backpedaling and cursing loudly.

"What the hell?!" He shouted in confusion. Raising his rifle again and pivoting in spot to find the little floating object.

"Oh this guy is hilarious." Joanna stifled some more laughter and pantomimed wiping away a tear. "But seriously, let's get out of here. We have to turn in this bounty, and we may have pissed off the local Primus by killing some of his Siege Dancers." She pointed a thumb over her shoulder for added emphasis.

"Sushi, you can take him in your jump ship, since you found him." Entity ordered before pulling out his Ghost and calling his ship to put himself into orbit.

Joanna, still laughing followed him up and left Sushi with the new Guardian. Sushi silently put his hand on the man's shoulder, feeling the man tense up and nearly leap out from under his hand, and let his Ghost pull them into his ship in orbit. The man thrashed about as he felt himself being pulled apart at an atomic level and back together before he hit the deck plates of the inside of a ship with a crash. His head swiveled as he rose quickly to his feet and looked around for the mysterious Sushi that had brought him here.

"Don't worry; it will take quite a few hours for us to return to Earth from here. So get some rest, you'll be busy when we get to Earth later." A voice, Sushi's, was heard over the small ship's PA. "Plus, we are apologizing now for having to leave you at the Tower once we get there."

"What do you mean?" A hesitant voice asked the air.

"Well, any new Guardian doesn't exactly have a class when they are brought back. So the Vanguard puts them through training and combat scenarios to see where you would fit best." The voice of a Ghost informed him in Sushi's place.

"Who are you? Where are you is the better question." The solid sound of his boots clunking on the metal reverberated within the hold.

"Don't worry Guardian; I'm a Ghost, your Ghost specifically. Your new companion and best friend in this world." The little bunch of angles with an eye, a Ghost, formed in front of his helmet. "I'll be guiding you when we get back to the Tower, and I'm sure I can fill you in on the few hundred years you have been gone." The Ghost paused as it seemed to rotate it's body a little. "I hope you don't mind, but I forwarded some of the data I have on you to the Vanguard as well as to the Guardians who found you."

"Well I'm sure that won't do them much good. I'm a dead Petty Officer from the United Earth Navy detached to Mars. What will they do with that? Promote me? I'm a friggin' zombie." He pointed out to his Ghost.

Seeing as this conversation wasn't going to advance he sat down in a crash seat and pulled the harness over his arms and strapped himself in tightly. He looked up at the Ghost who seemed to be floating awkwardly in the hold with him. He tried to ignore the pivoting object but gave in with a frustrated sigh.

"Alright! At least tell me what I'm going to see at this, 'Tower', when I get there."

"Well, let's start off with the Traveler." The Ghost began excitedly.

.

Dreamless sleep was always a bad sign that was a solid theory that some philosophic man may have made at some time. To the man now living in a world not too familiar, it meant less sleep and more worries when he awoke. As his mind processed that he was waking up and how he had drifted off, he came to a realization. He didn't have a name that he could remember. What was he going to call himself now? He racked his brain for any name that he could remember, Romeo? No, that was a terrible name. Well, for him anyways.

He continued to pick at his brain for a while before he felt the sudden weight of gravity on him. Not the artificial one that the ship had pushed on him, but planetary gravity. Names could wait, he was at Earth, or so he hoped.

With a growl, he undid the harness and pulled his body out of the crash seat. The ship tilted and he braced himself accordingly as he felt the ship now slowing and pitching up to touch down with a thump.

His head swiveled to the side as he heard a hatch open and the now revealed Exo climbing down a ladder into the cargo bay from what he assumed was the flight station above. The Exo's yellow optics locked onto his polarized visor and seemed to be calculating something that was lost on him. This was new and strange to him, Exo were a smart bunch, but this seemed far too sentient than he had remembered any Exo he worked with being. He would investigate about that at a later time, just another question to his never ending pool of questions.

He returned to what was happening as Sushi pressed the release button and the rear ramp started to lower towards the landing pad beneath the jump ship. The Exo didn't hesitate or wait to explain before he took off to get down and into the hangar proper. Only stopping briefly at the base of the ramp to wave the cautious Guardian forward and coax him out of the ship.

That was when he noticed the sounds of the early morning crews filled the air as more Guardians poured in to the hangar to head out for morning bounties or to go talk to the maintenance crews. Only a few seemed to stop and notice the new arrivals, and one of them was courteous enough to wave in their direction. It wasn't returned, and it only caused the man's face to scrunch up in a frown.

"Who are all these people?" He quietly asked Sushi when he caught up to him.

The Exo looked up at all the people as he passed by a cleaning droid and went up a flight of stairs. Looking back into the hangar he shrugged nonchalantly. He stopped at the landing to look at a group of Hunters as they passed.

"They are all Guardians just like you. So don't be too hostile towards them."

"Sometimes they are a bit useless on the field though, and only do low level bounties." Joanna spoke up as she appeared behind them. "They make good practice at the Crucible though."

Sushi seemed relaxed in her presence but the appearance of Joanna without her helmet was alarming to the other man. He took an involuntary step back and raised an eyebrow at her appearance. She had a dark blue, almost purple skin tone with bright yellow eyes that glowed. Glowed! She had what appeared to be wiry green facial tattoos that were beneath her glowing eyes.

"What?" She asked him casually.

"The biometrics I'm pulling right now off of him suggest that he is alarmed with your presence." His Ghost's voice seemed to resonate within his helmet and out the speakers. It was followed by the Ghost materializing in front of him.

"Thanks for the info Twinkles." She nodded to the Ghost before redirecting her attention. "So you got a problem with me? Never seen an Awoken before?" She took a threatening step closer towards the larger man. Whose sole response was a quick shake of his head suggesting that he didn't.

"Will you kids behave?" Entity grabbed Joanna by the shoulder and tugged her back slightly. "I need to talk with Sushi, so will you take-" He hesitated and looked at the other Guardians for a hint.

"I don't know…" The taller man admitted. "I just remember I was in the Human Navy and I recall my family, things like that. It's just my name doesn't come up at all in my memories." His helmeted head lowered slightly as he remembered he didn't even know who he was anymore.

"Striker." Joanna piped in.

"Please don't"

"Oh dear, no, you can't give anyone else nicknames."

"That's just dumb, where did that name even come from?"

All of these rejections came at the same time and Joanna dragged the toe of her boot on the ground while she grumbled a few obscenities before grabbing the larger man's arm and pulling him out of the hangar and into the courtyard beyond.

"C'mon, let's get you to the Vanguard and find out what you can be. While you do that, I'll figure out a name for you sailor boy." She seemed to almost be skipping as she walked him past a gathering of Guardians kicking around a large purple ball.

"Please don't call me that either."

.

Entity and Sushi watched as the two Guardians left. The tension between the two was strong and most of the Guardians who passed them gave them a wide berth. Sushi turned towards Entity's before looking down sadly.

"Look." Sushi began. "I know I told you I'd think about it for a while and that I would take on some more bounties with you." Sushi hesitated for a moment to gather his thoughts. "But I am done. My joints aren't as young as yours anymore and my desire to hold this rifle of mine is going away."

Sushi could feel the disappointment rolling off of Entity like an avalanche at this point. Entity, however, put his hands on his hips as he thought of how to convey his thoughts clearly.

"You're a good Guardian, Sushi, why give it up?" Entity asked finally.

"We all help people in any way we can." Sushi started. "Most aid each other with camaraderie in fire teams. So you should learn to trust the Guardians you serve with, we are all a family now. Exo, Awoken, or Human it doesn't matter anymore. We were all born in the light of the Traveler. So serve your brothers and sisters in arms. The Cryptarchs gave me an offer to join them. Guardians need the aid of the Chryptarchs, so it's not like I'm just handing out armor shaders to everyone. That is how I can help my brothers and sisters of the Light now."

"I do make them work a lot, don't I?" Entity let out a bark of laughter but let it quickly die down.

"So you're done with the Guardian work now?"

Sushi thought about that for a moment and shook his head.

"Never, I wasn't brought back to life just sift through ruins and collect dust behind a desk. If the Traveler needs me to fight again I will know where to find my rifle." Sushi solidified his remark by materializing his rifle and inspecting it. "But until that point I won't need it, so, here." He held it out for Entity to take it. "I want a professional to watch over my gun, I doubt you'll use it all that often. But that way if things go wrong I'll be coming to find you."

Entity looked at the gun and back at Sushi's yellow eyes. Giving the equivalent of a sigh of defeat from an Exo, he took the rifle and looked it over briefly, noting that it was deceptively heavy in his hands. The bronze colored rifle was heavy in the front, countering the weight of the bullets that would be loaded in the rear of the rifle.

"What do you load this thing with, bricks? Or old fashioned slugs? No wonder you can't ever keep up with most fire teams." Entity teased as he dematerialized the weapon into storage in his Ghost. "But Sushi, it has been an honor to have been on the field with you." He nodded towards the Warlock Exo before, he too, left to go about his business.

Sushi stood in the hangar for a while longer. Watching the Guardians going around preparing to leave or visit the different faction leaders, a few had noticed him standing alone by a small stack of crates and had acknowledged him. He looked down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them before nodding to accept his new fate. He was ready.

.

Joanna led the new Guardian down some more stairs and into the Vanguard HQ and motioned for him to go forward. She began to slide back and almost managed to get away before a short and bald black lady had stopped her.

"I see you have returned, Titan, and had brought a friend." Her voice was cool and controlled. The feeling that she was veiling her words put Joanna and her companion on edge. "I also hope you brought back what I loaned to you a while ago?" The venom in her question was almost tangible.

"Well. I did use your shotgun, yes, and it worked well. I, uh, left it in the jump ship and will go and get it. But first, here is a new Guardian that needs to be guided into the Vanguard." Her voice was surprisingly muted and rushed as she practically shoved the man forward and into the table.

Before the lady could respond Joanna had vanished back the way she had come, leaving a few amused stares from the other Vanguard leaders.

"Well if she says is true and I am keen in believing it, welcome to the Tower Guardian." A large Awoken male in decorated armor addressed him from across the room. "I am Commander Zavala, head of the Vanguard for the Titans."

Seeing the ribbons and that combined with the rank forced an instinctual reaction and the man snapped to attention. His armored heels crashing together to produce a large cracking sound that surprised the Vanguard leaders as they exchanged looks.

"It seems that you are already familiar with military protocol, Guardian. It will be good to have another warrior of the Light who shows at least a little respect for their superiors." An Exo who had now approached him stated with some dry humor. "Name is Cayde-6, head of the Vanguard for the Hunters." He folded his arms as he leaned against the table.

"We hope that you are up to the task that will be laid on your shoulders." The woman spoke up again. "I am Ikora Rey, head of the Vanguard for the Warlocks. What is your name?" She waved offhandedly towards her Ghost who appeared to be trying to get her attention.

"I don't remember my name, things are hazy, but I am trying to remember." The large man let his helmet dematerialize and allowed his bald head to feel the crisp air that flowed in behind him. He reached up to rub his temples in frustration.

"Well, don't worry. It may take some time, but it seems you still have some memories." Ikora spoke up trying to comfort him. "Some Guardians don't even remember their past lives, so you are counted among the lucky."

Commander Zavala reached over and tapped a few commands into a small pad. "But we have to assess your skills before we turn you loose. I just sent a message to the officer in charge at the barracks for new Guardians. You will report there and training will begin at 0600, so rest up tonight." The strong voice of the Commander made an impact on the new Guardian as he returned to attention. "Now get going, Guardian."

The voices of the Vanguard followed him out of the room and died down as the new recruit made his way through the Tower and towards where the barracks was located on the map his Ghost provided. It lead him towards a large building with a large plaza and a field beside it. Swallowing his nervousness he stepped up to the door and watched it open automatically.

A foyer is what greeted him and behind it sat an Exo Titan who flicked her green optics up to analyze him for a moment before nodding to the side.

"The compartments are that way for the males and you have some clothes provided for you at your rack. Pick any open one, since the clothes will fit anyone. Good luck." She added the last part as an afterthought and went back to her duties as a watch stander in what he would call a quarterdeck.

The compartment was at the end of the hallway and it was nearly full of dozing Humans and Awoken. Several Exo sat on their racks and seemed to be studying something with their Ghosts. What he noted gratefully was the silence. No one spoke, and it was nearly deafening and he enjoyed that. With this silence greeting him he approached a rack and let his Ghost pull his armor into storage before quickly changing into blue shorts and a tight grey shirt with the mark of the Vanguard on the left chest.

With one last look at the slumbering Guardians-in-training, he climbed into his rack and drifted back into sleep.

.

A sudden pounding was heard and it startled the slender Awoken Warlock from her studies. Nearly knocking over her desk lamp she glared through her glasses at the door. When the pounding resumed she marked the spot she was just reading with her finger and went to open the door. Ready to tear apart whomever was dumb enough to interrupt a Warlock during their study periods.

The door slid open to allow the short form of Joanna to push her way in without a word. The Warlock let out an indignant squawk as she was shoved aside by the other Awoken.

"What is the meaning of this, Jo?" She managed to finally get out.

"I need help. I need to think of a name, a good name for a big and strong individual." She seemed to be more musing to herself other than talking to her friend. "C'mon Archivia! Think!"

Archivia glared daggers before resetting her glasses. She opened her mouth to respond with something witty but closed her mouth before looking at the book in her hand. She paused as she opened it again and gazed at the words.

"Well anything else to describe him would help a lot, Jo." Archivia pointed out.

"He is a big Human, unhinged an Exo's jaw with one punch through the helmet. He also was apparently in the old Earth's Navy." Joanna, Jo, paced around and counted off the individual aspects with her fingers. "How about something that has to do with water? What do you have there?" She asked, finally noticing the book.

"This is a history book on the country of France and the surrounding areas." She commented as she browsed the contents. "How about this, an old word from the Normans, Ras, it means a strong sea current or wave. Well, something to that extent." She looked up at Jo questioningly.

"I like it, but no. It needs more spice. Something that pops, you know?" Jo was now standing next to Archivia. "How about this? It's another way to spell it and it makes him sound more like a tidal wave than a ripple that Ras would make him sound." She pointed to the word in question and looked up to her friend.

"Raz? That doesn't make it that much different."

"I like it. I'm going to call him Raz, I'll tell him the good news tomorrow." Jo skipped off and back out the door.

"May whatever God he prays to have mercy on his soul." Archivia commented before closing the book again with a resounding thud.

**Post A/N: I hope you enjoyed it, Archivia belongs to RC927. So I now will be opening up my story to OC's, I will need at least two or three fire teams worth of Guardians. Plus alien OC's in this story. As always, please leave a review and let me know how I did. Keep on keepin' on everyone!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This is a fast update, but it should hold people over until I post again next Sunday. I feel it may be a bit rushed though, and I know that this story is a little slow. But I enjoy my pacing for it. I hope you enjoy and as always I don't own Destiny. Bungie and Activision do.**

CH 4: Initiation to a new life

"Papa! Papa!" A pair of shrill voices was heard over the constant noise of the space port. "Can we have one of those?" The twin girls pointed to what looked like a tangled mess of tubes but was clearly a puzzle of some sort.

The man let go of their hands and scooted them towards the small stand so he could get a closer look at the toy. Definitely some sort of puzzle, probably made by some sadistic mind bending dude. This would take forever to solve for a child, and would wind up tossed under a bed forgotten.

"Why do you want this?"

"It has so many pretty colors!" They replied and put their little fists on their hips in unison.

"Alright, alright, you two win. I'll get you the toy for your flight. Just don't tell your nan, deal?"

The girls nodded excitedly at the prospect of a secret deal behind their nan's back. He sighed as he took the toy to the register and paid for it, a very high price for some cheap rubber, but he bought it for his little girls. After handing it back to the children they stayed near the stand and he enjoyed watching them trying to figure out how to untangle the whole thing.

"Hey, papa? We'll bring you a present from nan's home okay?" One of the twins, Erica, suddenly spoke up.

"Yeah! Like a seashell! Nan told us how you had never been to Earth before. How come you never visit her?" Melissa piped in as she passed the bundle to her sister.

"It's true; I was born on Mars, as were my parents. I've never had the time to go to your momma's home when she- When she was still here." He trailed off as he shook that thought away. "Well, with your nan, it's complicated, sort of. Nan is your momma's mother. Not mine. So I don't have to see her often."

He was looking down at his girls when he was startled by the sounds of yells, shouts, whistles, and stomping boots filling the air. The startled man's eyes snapped open to the cries of the few new Guardians all around him as the lights came on and blinded everyone who was already stumbling out of their racks in confusion.

Through all the loud noises a few Guardians had put on their running shoes and stood at attention on a thick black line. Others began to follow suit in various suits of disheveled dress and ragged expressions. Many groaned in agony at being awoken early in the morning and the manner in which they did it.

"Rise and shine you little baby Guardians!" A feminine voice called out. "You are the fresh new batch that the Vanguard cobbled together to fill the ranks of the Guardians for the Tower! You should feel honored!"

All of the eyes fell on an Exo wearing what appeared to be a dark gray uniform and a Vanguard patch with a silver orb behind it, the Traveler. Her light blue optics passed over all of the tired faces of the Humans and Awoken, pausing over each one to memorize the features. She continued with the steadfast and blank looks of the other Exo in the room.

"My name is Saer-34, and we are going to get to know each other very well this next week, so I hope you don't feel the need to be antisocial! You might break my little mechanical heart!" A batch of chuckles could be heard from the veteran's behind her and a few of the newbies in front of her. "But you will not call me by my name, ever! You will call me ma'am! We are, for the more sensitive inclined pansy asses in the room, your instructor. But anyone with a pair or with the right knowledge of what is going on, we are your handlers! We will take this week to mold you into capable Guardians who know what in the Hell you are doing out there! Are you tracking?" She had shouted all of this, and many had a slightly upset look about their face for being yelled at so early in the morning.

"Yes ma'am!" A small chorus of Guardians called out, not even close to half had responded.

"Sweet Speaker on a Sunday you are all hopeless!" She placed her hands on where her temples would be and looked down for a moment before going on. "Now we are going to go and feed the Humans and Awoken, I know we Exo don't need food but you will join them! One team one fight everyone!" She pivoted on her booted heel and towards the door where a pair of humans in the same uniform as her stepped aside. "Now form up in a single file line based on height! I want the tall bastards in the back, little ones up front!"

The mass confusion that followed was amusing at first. But to a few it grew tedious as a few began to argue who was shorter than whom.

"Your spot seems to be secured back here, doesn't it?" A large Awoken male asked the lone man standing in the back.

"Well, yes, everyone here is a little on the short side to me." The man replied, looking curiously at the Awoken who approached him.

"Name is Corde. What can I call you?" The Awoken held his hand out to shake the Human's.

"Corde? That's a new one. But I don't know mine. Everyone has just been calling me Guardian until now." He shrugged. He honestly couldn't remember his own name and it frustrated him. He still took Corde's hand and shook it firmly.

"Well I'm sure it will come to you. My Ghost called me that after he found my body tangled up in a bunch of wires in an old jump ship." Corde told him while leaning in close conspicuously, eliciting a strange look from the larger man. "There's another way to get your name too, have someone name you from something you did or something about you."

"Someone tried. It was horrible." The dry remark came out with a sigh.

Corde laughed it off as the line had apparently been figured out and everyone took off to go get food in them before their day actually started.

.

"If you are going to puke go and do it in a trash can or in the bathroom! Not on my damn floors!" The Exo woman from earlier yelled at a Human that had nearly collapsed on the track they had been all running on.

"Sorry ma'am-"

"Sorry ma'am?! Do I look sorry to you? Now get your ass in gear and clean this up! Move it!"

The man took off at a shaky run to look for a mop and a bucket, leaving the instructor behind to shake her head sadly. She turned back to watch the rest of the next great hope of the Light struggle going around the track. She tracked a few that seemed to be moving better than others, and some who were in the same condition as the man who just ran off. They were supposed to be checking the physical capabilities of the new Guardians, help in the selection process for the classes of Guardians.

She watched as another Guardian collapsed in a heap on the other side of the track only to have another instructor rush over to encourage the lady who had fallen down. She couldn't quite make out the curse words the other instructor was using, but he wasn't holding back. She knew it was harsh, but they couldn't coddle these people, they couldn't afford to anyways. The Darkness was pushing on them all the time and these people formed what would be the sword and shield of the City.

Her attention was once again diverted to the only group that had yet to stop in the run she was putting them through. They were no longer in formation, but they stuck together and if one started to fall out they would slow down and offer words of encouragement. Most of them were Exos, but a good mix of Humans and Awoken were amongst them. It was then that she noticed something, they were singing a cadence. The largest Human she had ever seen was running just off to the side of the group and was calling a good paced cadence that they would all repeat back.

"Run with your left! Left! Left right le-yeft!"

"Left! Left! Keep it in step now!"

"Now follow with that left! Left! Lefty-Right a low right!"

Definitely not in formation, or in tune but at least they were in step and working together. She had hope for this group at least and it felt good.

"Alright everyone! Hydrate and form up in five! We're gonna cool you all off now!" She watched as they all made a mad dash for the water fountains and the bathrooms. They were all silent aside from the huffing and puffing that could be heard from across the room. It didn't take long for the group to have reformed themselves in front of her and the other instructors, all still huffing and puffing.

"Alright everyone, pushup position! Let's go!" She dropped down as well as the other instructors to do the pushups with the new Guardians. "Down! Up!" She started the count and led them through pushups, situps, jumping jacks and eventually stretches. That was when she sent them off to get lunch.

"Jesus man! Talk about working us to death! I already died once, and I don't plan on doing it any time soon!" A rather sick looking man, probably the one from earlier who had puked, cried out. "Why are we even doing all of this? Aren't we supposed to be you know? Saving the galaxy or something like that?

"You don't even know what you are going to be yet, for all we know you could end up being a Warlock and cooped up behind a desk for the rest of your returned life." Corde retorted as they made their way back to the barracks building. Nudging his now new friend in the ribs he nodded. "Don't you agree, Jukebox?"

"Juke-? Just why am I hearing this?" He asked around a laugh. "That is worse than what I heard yesterday when I was brought back to life."

"Just hear me out!" Corde pleaded. "You know a lot of songs for someone who can't remember his name, and all those songs are old." The smile on the Awoken's face spread from one side to the other. "So I'm calling you Jukebox."

"I don't think it will stick, ever." He countered.

"I don't know about that. I like the sound of it. Jukebox, it has a good ring to it." The sudden appearance of the Exo instructor sent both of them ramrod straight and stared straight ahead as she came about in front of them. "As you were, Guardians, we aren't that formal around here."

"What can we do for you ma'am?" One of them asked as the pair visibly relaxed and they looked down at her smaller frame with slight apprehension.

"You can relax, Jukebox, I'm just trying to get to know the new batch of Guardians a little better. You're only going to be here for a week anyways." She paused as she looked between the two. "You never know, I might pick one of you two for my future fire team. We Exo live for a long time, and all those Guardians over there are evaluating you too. They hope to get some new talent to watch their backs, so they are looking for the best, as am I. Good luck gentlemen."

The pair watched her turn and go, only to exchange a look between them before taking off to go grab some food before the afternoon training and evaluations began. Mental training and standard knowledge was what was going to be covered until dinner.

.

"You're going to recruit him aren't you?" A pregnant pause sat between Archivia and Joanna. "Why, jo? You saw him out there! He is a lumbering giant and not even all that fast. We need someone like a Hunter and with how he is built he will obviously be a Titan." Archivia was pointing down in the training arena where all the newer Guardians were receiving what appeared to be time to study and were sitting in the grass with holopads in little groups.

"Hey! At least he's reading! Look! What Titan do you know reads?" Joanna snapped back at Archivia.

"Until he picks a class, Jo, none that I have ever encountered." Archivia deadpanned.

"That's exactly my point!" She paused for a moment. "Hey!" Jo whined back at her friend.

The pair was currently leaning against a rail on the balcony of the barracks overlooking the newer Guardians. Several other Guardians were also present, watching and taking notes on the freshly risen. But most of them were there to watch the younger Guardians trying to figure out what was going on. That was always the funniest part, in Jo's opinion, and especially on hand to hand combat training day.

"Well I think we have the right time now to go down and talk to him." Jo added before grabbing onto the rail.

"We can't go down there!" Archivia warned. "Plus, you just want to go tell him his name you chose for him. That is what has you all antsy anyways." She stated matter of factly.

"So? This is better than that dig job you wanted to do in the remains of old Canada. By the Queen! Who wants to go there? It's fucking cold this time of year!" The short Awoken ranted to her friend before mounting the rail and leaping off down to the ground below.

"Damnit! I'm not bailing you out if the handlers catch you!" Archivia called out to her before crossing her arms over her chest. It didn't even take a full minute before she caved. "Shit. Wait for me!" She shouted after her as she grabbed the rail and flung herself over it.

Archivia had no problem catching up to Jo and gave the short woman a scowl as she saw the shit eating grin on the other woman's face.

"Not a word, you little twerp." Archivia threatened before snapping her head forward looking for the man Jo wanted to call Raz.

She was indeed curious about this man, someone who seemed to have been dead for a long time and was brought back on Mars. He may have answers to questions her library may not be able to tell her. Plus, Jo was buzzing about this man and how strong he was. Unhinging Sage-22's , or Sushi's, jaw through his helmet was pretty impressive. She would never reveal this information to Jo even on her deathbed; the woman would never let it go.

"Oh! There he is, and he is with someone almost his size! Look! Sasquatch and the abominable snowman are best friends!" Jo nearly squealed in laughter.

The pair did stick out; the Human was just massive and had an authoritative air about him, while the Awoken was a very light blue with a shaggy white hair that looked like a wig placed on wrong. It was a nearly comedic sight. Before Archivia could stop her energetic friend, the little woman had taken off at a sprint.

"Hey! Sasquatch! Guess who!" She called out before slamming into his back, forcing him to double over with a pained grunt.

"I don't know, but whoever you are you're heavy." He breathed out with an exasperated sigh.

A quick thud was heard followed by a pained curse with another man laughing at his friend's misfortune. After rubbing his sore head he turned to see two Awoken women, one he recognized the other he didn't. He couldn't recall the first's name however, it was only mentioned briefly before he was taken away to see the Vanguard leaders.

"I'm Jo! How can you not remember that?" She exclaimed at the blank look he was giving her. "But beside that, this is my friend, Archivia." She motioned to the other Awoken who nodded her head but kept her distance.

Both of the men waved slowly and exchanged looks, almost unsure of what to do in this situation.

"But all kidding aside we came up with a name for you! Aren't you excited?"

"No." His simple reply set Corde and Archivia off into a fit of laughter before Jo punched the Human square in the back of the head again.

"At least listen to it before you reject it, Frazzle!" She exclaimed.

"Is that really the best you could come up with?" He asked, disappointed.

"Nah, I'm just screwin' with ya. I think Razzle Dazzle is more your style."

"Oh my and here I thought Jukebox was a good one!" Corde cut in with a snort trying to contain his laughter. "But this one is just full of terrible ideas! I like her!"

"Everyone's a fuckin' critic these days." Jo complained with a turn of her head and sniffed in mock sadness. After a moment to appear to regain her bearings she turned back to them. "But seriously, I came up with an awesome name for you, Raz. It's an old Earth word in French. Totally badass I think."

"Norman."

"Whatever you say, I don't care."

The man sat there thinking it over, visibly weighing his options on the name he could take versus what she could come up with in the future if she stuck around. Having decided what he hoped wasn't a bad decision he rose to his feet with some effort and dusted off his legs of grass.

"Raz, huh?" He asked the tiny Awoken lady. She nodded enthusiastically, her light hair swinging back and forth. "Alright, what the hell, let's go with it."

Jo let out a shrill cry and pumped her fist in the air to emphasize her victory. She stopped herself at a look from Archivia and straightened out her shirt before offering her hand to Raz.

"Well Raz, I look forward to working with you in the future." The man's hand completely enveloped hers and she shook it firmly. "Archivia looks forward to it too, since she'll be with me from now on." She added with a tilt to her head.

.

The rest of the week passed by in a painful blur for Raz. They did hand to hand combat training and it turned out to be a tournament style fighting system. Guardians were pitted against one another and even lethal blows were authorized. This surprised everyone but they realized that as long as the Ghosts had something to work with they could be brought back to life.

Raz made it pretty far into the sparring matches and so did Corde, but their match was called off by Saer who said it would take too long. She later kicked both of their asses just to prove that speed and agility when used right can outdo the brute force and tenacity that they had both shown.

This training was followed by weapons and explosives training. They had received the basic weapons kits and were instructed on how to field strip and clean their weapons in case they were stuck out of the City for extended times. The firing range was a blast for most and for some was pure torture. When they got to the heavy weapons some of the smaller Guardian's couldn't even lift the rocket launchers or machine guns.

"See, he just doesn't fight well but he is awesome with guns too! See that handling of the rocket launcher? Pure talent!" Jo gushed as they watched the Guardians pick up sniper rifles.

Archivia kept her mouth shut as she watched the Guardians start to fire down range. That was when she noticed a big issue with Raz. His long range accuracy was absolute crap. Jo's face fell into despair as they watched him fire round after round and some not even hit the target at all.

"Damnit. Damnit. Damnit." Raz muttered with every missed shot, his tone growing louder by the bullet.

This didn't last long as he finally raged and threw his rifle down range and grabbed the closest weapon to him, a machine gun, and fired the belt fed weapon at the target. After releasing over a hundred rounds at the virtual figure at the other end did he finally slam the weapon down and look at his score above him.

**RANGED PROFICIENCY: INADAQUATE**

"What in the hell was that?" Saer came in pushing him aside to see the sniper rifle on the ground near the virtual target blown to actual dust. "Can't you fucking pay attention? It's snipers only, dipshit!" She berated him as she called for the range to be shut down.

"Well at least we know that your spot on our fire team as the marksman is in no danger." Archivia quipped to Jo, who only groaned and put her head in her hands.

"That was terrible, just terrible." She managed to get out. "I've never seen someone so bad with a long range rifle."

That incident was quickly swept under the rug with a signed promise from Raz and from every Guardian present to never speak of this again. This was followed up with training on how to maintain the basic functions of their jump ships, if they had one, and for their Sparrows as well. If they didn't have one of these they were directed to get one as soon as the training was over by speaking to one Amanda Holiday to requisition them. They would have to figure out the payment for the ships and Sparrows with the lady on their own.

The selection ceremony seemed rather anti-climactic for Raz and Corde. The both had selected to become Titans for obvious reasons and were quickly sent to Commander Zavala to receive their first duty assignment and receive their sets of gear from the Vanguard.

It was after Raz had fully kitted himself with his new armor that he took a full look at himself in a standing mirror in the room that had been assigned to him in the Titan's tower that he realized something. It was something so simple he felt rather dumb for not noticing this before. The armor colors were optional and he didn't need to get one anytime soon. He was sure from a sky view that the Tower probably looked like a turned over box of Fruity Pebbles, and he was glad that he wouldn't be counted among the brightly colored idiots.

.

The wastes of Old Russia were never forgiving, but neither were the creatures that inhabited it. The few animals that survived in this wilderness were tough and were avoided if at all possible. But they weren't the only predators out in this wasteland. The Fallen roamed this tundra and were as hostile as the land itself.

A small patrol of Fallen had made its way into what seemed to be a complex of rundown freeways. The roads abandoned when the Houses had finally broken through Earth's orbital defenses and landed on the Human soil. Cars were strewn about the roads with the dead of the fleeing Human's inside, but these bodies did not intrigue this patrol at all. They were after something else; another prey that was worth more to them than the dead.

These Fallen were led by a Captain whose cloak was colored a dark Auburn color which was draped over his armor, this signified that they were members of the House of Thieves. A smaller House who were more set with working in the shadows and striking their opponents when they were wounded.

"Captain." A Vandal called out from one of the flanks. "I do not think the coward is in this sector, we should move on to a more lucrative area." The Vandal had hesitated on his words, unsure on how the stoic Captain would react to the suggestion. "Besides," he began again, "All the patrols in this area have not met with any resistance that we can recall."

There was a brief silence that filled the air before the Captain had closed the distance rapidly to the Vandal and rammed his blade through it's gut. The Vandal sputtered in disbelief and fell back lifeless as the whispy essence of his life escaped out of the wound. Due to the commotion no one noticed the Dreggs standing as the rearguards go missing into the first snowfall.

"Anyone else dare to question the orders we have been given?" The Captain called out the challenge while circling the dead Vandal. "I will see to it that you are disciplined in a like manner." The challenge went unanswered as the rest of the patrol dropped their heads and was quickly herded forward again, closing together with the change of weather and drop of visibility.

As the patrol moved on the Captain began to take stock of a few things. His Dreggs were now missing, and only the Vandals in front of him were still in sight. If they had seen any good salvage they would have let him know, and that was hard to believe since this area was supposedly picked clean. He let out a battle cry to halt the Vandals and that was when he saw it. A grenade landed neatly between the two leading Vandals and killed them in a heartbeat.

The last Vandal that was with him searched the area frantically as he dived into cover behind an adjacent car to the Captain. The Captain's own cover was an overturned truck which allowed him room to stand at full height. Catching the Vandal's attention he motioned for him to move up. The Vandal looked at his wire rifle before nodding and raising it.

Wait.

Wire rifle? His squad wasn't equipped with one. He turned quickly to feel his arc shield take a blow and shatter around him. Cursing he roared as he charged at the Vandal, planning to gut the cretin before the rifle could recharge. He never expected it to fire in the next moment without a buildup.

The Vandal lowered his rifle as he gazed at the corpse of the Captain. Another one of their patrols dead, another Captain in the House of Thieves taken care of and another step closer to his goal. His helmet com buzzed and he put one of his hands up to listen briefly.

"Watcher, can you hear me?"

"Yes, what is it?" The Vandal responded to the Fallen on the other end.

"I am intercepting some Thieves chatter; looks like you took care of that patrol. How did my rifle hold up?"

The Vandal, Watcher, gazed at the rifle for a moment, inspecting it.

"You need to tinker with the heat dispersion; it won't be firing again anytime soon." He responded before taking off into the building blizzard.

"Well bring it back and I'll give you a new one that will be modified. I'll see what I can get on the Thieves for you. I'll see you in a few cycles and bring my rifle; I need that data to improve it for the Kings."

"Thanks Priest Durnisk, it's always a pleasure to do business with you."

**Post A/N: I thank RC for letting me use Archivia and Reilly for letting me use the Watcher. I still have open slots for Guardians and I hope to fill them soon. As always, keep on keepin' on!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This one came a little late, but meh, only a few people seem to be reading this to care enough to comment. This is why I will finish the story on it's original plot path, I almost cut this story to about half, maybe even a third. But I give props to my friends who support me with this nonsense. As always, Bungie and Activision own Destiny, not me, if I did I wouldn't work as much as I do.**

CH 5: Just another cog?

The remains of the Human country of Ukraine always had interested Watcher. He preferred this type of area, the brisk weather, the lush overflow of plants. It was perfect for his secretive nature, and it was also where he ran into the House he did jobs for.

A Fallen Skiff lazily flew over him and drifted to a stop a few hundred feet away as the pilot seemed to have spotted him on a Pike that was loaned to him by their House. The purring engine of the Pike died down as soon as he passed between a series of ruined buildings to approach the now disembarked Fallen Captain and his squad.

"That's far enough, Disowned!" A Dregg called out while raising one of its hands to stop him a mere hundred feet from the Skiff.

"You let an honor less cur address me in that manner?" Watcher snorted at one of the Vandals. Whose only response was a shrug and a non-committal grunt.

"You should feel lucky I am willing to address you, Disowned." The Captain had brushed a Vandal aside and was now standing more than a few heads taller than Watcher. "I should rip out your arms and send you to work in the Shank lines. You piece of filth." The Captain growled as it closed the distance to the smaller Vandal.

The Captain reached up and gently grabbed the end of the auburn fabric that was Watcher's mark. The Vandal didn't deem the Captain worth the effort to react more than to turn his head towards him

"This would look wonderful in my quarters, right under your mounted head. It will serve as a constant reminder to those who face me and don't know their place." The Captain was at a near hiss as he let go of the mark and was slowly reaching for a shock blade.

"Enough!" A far deeper voice called out. "This one is a guest to the Archon Priest, and you will do well to remember this, Captain!" A Baron roughly grabbed the Captain by the horned helmet and jerked him aside, throwing him into the fresh snow.

The Captain gave a defiant growl and watched as his support of Vandals quickly lowered their heads in acquiesce to the Baron. Knowing this battle lost the Captain gave a huff before pulling himself out of the snow and trudging over to the Skiff to await the cast off. He did manage to throw a small shoulder check into the Vandal the Baron was now conversing with.

"Captain, you will not wish to irk me. I will send you to Priest Durnisk to aid in his… Experiments." The Baron let that threat hang in the air as he watched all the troops stiffen in horror at the Archon Priest's name. "Load the Pike up troops! We head to the Ketch, we have our spoils."

"I don't need your aid all the time Baron Grutek." Watcher spoke up behind the massive Fallen. "Though I will say that it is much appreciated."

Grutek swung his cape around as he glared down at the Vandal. The massive piece of navy blue cloth surprised Watcher and forced him to skip backwards to avoid what he assumed was an attack, but dropped his guard when he saw the Baron shaking with mirth.

"I never would have thought you would ever appreciate anything the House of Thunder has done for you, Disowned. No, Watcher, that was the name you prefer now, wasn't it?" The Baron put one of his hands to his helmet in mock thought. "Adopting such a name, curious, don't you think?" He asked as he approached his Skiff and grabbed onto one of the mounting rails.

"No, I don't think about it. That is what you and your House is for, thinking, because the House of Kings is too lazy to do so." This comment sent Grutek into a fit of laughter as the pair entered the main hold and waited for the Dreggs to finish loading the Pike so they could take off.

As the Skiff left the area and turned to the north, Watcher could feel the tension in the air. The whole crew was staring at him and the Baron warily. They wouldn't do anything while their leader was there, but that didn't mean they would be docile. A few of the Dreggs turned their heads as Watcher's gaze passed over them.

The silence was almost as painful as being shot and it lasted for the hour and a half. That it took to get from the pickup point up past a small range of mountains and to the hidden Ketch of the House of Thunder.

Trying to see the thing from the viewport always hurt Watcher's eyes. The Archon Priest, Durnisk, had developed an experimental cloaking device that bent the light around the ship in a very disturbing way. He was not sure how creatures like Humans who had only two eyes dealt with it. But his four eyes struggled to focus on the grounded ship below, and that hurt his head.

"Alright, we are dropping you lot off here!" The Baron called to his men. "You will stay with me." He added to Watcher as the Skiff lowered to the platform allowing all of the Vandals and Dreggs to drop off.

The Skiff took back off and began to fly in an eastern direction, away from the Ketch. Watcher looked between the viewport and the Baron.

"Where are we going? I was supposed to meet with the Archon Priest!"

"We are meeting with Priest Durnisk, don't worry about that." Grutek assured him. "But we are meeting him in a different location. His experiments are, energetic to say the least."

Watcher gave Grutek a disbelieving look before settling back against the wall waiting to see where they were off to. He was getting tired of being yanked around by the House of Thunder, even if they did provide him his means to an end.

.

It had taken several hours for the Skiff to reach what appeared to be another rundown Human city. Watcher glanced over it quickly before doing a double take and squinting his eyes. He was somewhat glad that he was in the Thunder Skiff, and that a Baron was on his side. He would have been killed within two breaths of entering this desolate looking landscape.

Elite Stealth Vandals were everywhere and were hard to spot. These Fallen knew what they were doing, and if it wasn't for Watcher's own training with the different Houses he had dealt with he would have looked right over them without a second thought. He could see they were eyeing the Skiff suspiciously, even if it was marked properly. It appeared this place was guarded even more than the Thunder Ketch was. That didn't include the contingent of King's troops that were detached to secure the site as well.

Grutek grabbed onto a rail and shoved Watcher softly. Giving a chuckle before dropping through the hole beneath them with a massive thud and kicking up a cloud of snow. The nearest guards raising their rifles slightly in apprehension, but not aiming them above the waist. They wouldn't shoot without a good reason too, they were well trained and this impressed Watcher.

Following the Baron silently Watcher entered one of the buildings behind the massive Baron, feeling the stares of the other Fallen on the pair. They weren't the stares of distaste or hate, they were calculating and cold. Watcher shivered as he felt them assessing him and estimating his abilities and most likely calculating what was the fastest way to kill the Vandal. Grutek did not appear disturbed at all, but he had fallen silent and did not speak at all during their trek past security points where more and more King's warriors were present.

"I do not care if you were the Kell himself! These need results before I can hand them over!" A loud voice argued with someone, it was Durnisk. "Unless," there was a pause, "you and your ilk wish to test the weapons for me?" The hopefulness in the Priest's voice was bone chilling at best.

"Like I will let them be the test cases for your imagination!" Another deep voice countered with a huff. "Your House agreed to these terms, Priest Durnisk, do not push my Kell's patience, nor mine!" The other was speaking in a rage bordered whisper.

"Peace to you, Priest Aksor! The weapons will be ready and delivered soon! I have a contract dealing with the experiments, now settle yourselves with these armor modifications I finished."

Watcher could hear the shuffling of equipment as Durnisk was apparently dealing with the King's Archon Priest himself. Great, another giant overly important Fallen to deal with. He stopped himself from running into Grutek's back as the Baron was surrendering his weapons to the guards at the door they needed to enter. Watcher followed suit, but kept the ruined rifle to turn over to Durnisk. What he saw next however defied his own logic, and understanding of who Durnisk was.

The room was littered with armor and weapons of all makes and from all sides of this system. Schematics lined one wall where what appeared to be a junk pile had been growing for however long Durnisk had been at work. He even spotted a Guardian's jump ship tipped against one wall. This all paled in comparison to what was on the Archon Priest himself, a string of Ghost's were attached to his chest piece instead of a bandolier of grenades. The thing that surprised him the most about it, was that they still glowed with their inner light, they lived on the brink of death, but were kept alive by the mad Priest.

"You sure my men won't catch fire this time?" One of the Priests, Aksor, asked as he gazed at the components in his massive hands.

Durnisk snorted in disapproval. "I told you, Priest Aksor, that those modifications were highly volatile, and those Guardians were using Flare based munitions. So you can't shove the whole blame on me. The new one's fix that issue, and with an additional insulation to Arc for your less than happy Devil neighbors."

"Very well, Priest Durnisk, we will have these implemented for now." Aksor nodded in approval before passing the components back to the other Archon Priest. "Now I must go report this to my Kell, and Durnisk?"

"Yes?" Durnisk whose attention was already diverted to one of his trinkets on one of the many tables. He paused to look at Aksor.

"What of the other matter? If you can find us a manner to take the Wolves, well, another Ghost for your collection?" He pointed at Durnisk's chest.

"No, I am still prying these ones for data on how we can get into the Reef silently. A Ghost is tempting, but an Exo. I want to know what makes those machines tick. Bring me one of those and I'll learn something new for you and your House." Durnisk's attention was already back at whatever he was working on, not caring that Aksor was still standing there or when the other Priest left.

"Priest Durnisk, I present to you the contractor with your experiment." Baron Grutek spoke up after a clearing of his throat. "I will leave him to you, Priest." Grutek bowed and swiftly left the room.

Watcher looked up at the massive Fallen as his attention shifted to the Vandal, and Watcher felt incredibly small at the moment. The assessing gaze was back, but more in a manner of what made him work than how to kill him. That was even more unnerving than before, and he was hoping this would go quickly.

"Good work out there, too bad that my rifle didn't hold up like I intended, may I have it?" Durnisk had approached and had gingerly taken the offered rifle from Watcher so he could look at it closely. "Hrrmm... Barrel fused together, heat sink vent overloaded and sealed itself." Durnisk had wandered off and was scribbling notes with his lower arms while analyzing the gun with his other two. "Heat dispertion is the only problem now. I anticipated as such, and had prepared another rifle for you. It is over there." Durnisk lazily pointed towards one of the stands by the door before drifting off into mumbling again. "Oh, and the guards will take you to a Servitor for some Ether before you go out again. They will inform you on some activity you may be interested in."

Watcher bowed his head before grabbing the rifle and leaving as fast as his legs could carry him and was glad he could get more Ether before returning to work.

.

"This will never work, you know."

"Oh don't be so negative about this; I've done this plenty of times."

"No. I'm positive you have never done this before. Your records state you fought on Mars, Fallen activity on that planet was minimal at best. Too much Cabal activity for anything like this to work."

"I never said that I did this to any Fallen, only that I've done this before. Now shut up, you're going to give me away."

"On the Cabal? Didn't you do this with a rocket launcher, and didn't you die?" His Ghost reminded him, now clearly agitated.

Raz was attempting to be stealthy and had dragged several explosive charges with him as he had crawled his way towards a small Fallen encampment. The camp consisted mostly of Dreggs and Vandals, but one bigger bastard seemed to order them around. His Ghost, Twinkles, called the thing a Baron. If he killed that he would have helped the Tower a lot in dealing with some airspace issues.

The snow on the ground helped to muffle his movements and he was sure that there was a layer of snow on his armor that helped conceal him a little more. It had been snowing for the last three days, and Raz hated the stuff. But no it was his tool for getting in close towards his target, the huge walking tank that seemed to be outfitted for anti-air.

Using his newfound stealth abilities was harder than he had anticipated and he was struggling with getting any closer to where he was now. He had passed the initial lines of sentries and what appeared to be prefab shelters of some kind. He never expected this many Fallen to be here in this area, and was just tempted to stand up and just tear them apart from where he had gotten. But he knew the walker was a problem for him alone, and it was the first time he would fight one, so he didn't know the weak spots.

Lost in thought he pulled himself out of his thoughts as he almost ran into the leg of the walker.

"Hey, you weren't planning on using all of that were you?" His Ghost quietly asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, to kill this you should only need like, two to four. I'll do the math for you." He could hear the Ghost thinking out loud and doing something along the lines of "carry the two."

"Yeah, no dice, remember this always. No kind of kill like overkill." He took in a sharp breath as he adjusted so he could reach into his pack. "Well, here we go." He mumbled as he crawled under it and placed the charges on the inside of the "knees" as well as a few extra on the underbelly. "That should be enough."

"Enough?! You used all of it!" Twinkles practically yelled into his ear. "I don't think you thought this out too well did you?"

"I thought it out perfectly. I blow this thing back to space, and then I get to work." He calmly explained to his Ghost as he made it to the first of the structures.

"I think I may have done something to your personality when I put you back together." Twinkles sighed aloud.

"Stupid machine, don't sweat the small stuff. You wanted me, you got me. Now we do your end of the deal."

"No way. Not happening."

"Come on! I won't blow this bitch apart until you do it."

"Why must I do this? It wouldn't change a thing if I didn't do it."

"Just humor me, please? Plus, you got to do it now. I think the jig is up."

Raz watched as a group of Dreggs moved closer to the walker to inspect the placement of the charges. One of them pointed at it and squawked something to the Fallen next to it. Raz just primed the detonator and in the other hand gripped his rocket launcher.

"Do it!" Raz hissed.

"Ugghh… Fine!" The Ghost materialized and floated up high enough to where it could be seen. It waited until Raz had clambered his way up onto the building and picked the rocket launcher again. The Ghost played at clearing its throat before broadcasting on a loudspeaker in the Fallen language.

"Murder time!"

.

On the same snow covered tundra on a nearby ridge Raz's fire team stood over watch for him. The glint of the brief peeks of sunlight reflected off of the sniper scope as Jo watched the camp below. She would follow him and watch as he barely avoided a Dregg or a Vandal and slowly crawl on.

"Why are you so interested in that Human?" Archivia's voice came from behind Jo.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one we already have a Titan on our fire team. Reason two I thought you weren't interested in finding a relationship." Archivia counted off the reasons behind her friend. "For reason two and a half, I wasn't sure you swung that way."

"Say what? Just because I don't pick up every dude I see doesn't mean any of that would be true!" Jo swung her head back to glare at her companion. "Also, who are you to talk? I bet your sex life is about as dead as Raz's, and he has been dead for what, over a hundred years or so?"

Jo returned her attention back to the field below to ignore the very flustered Archivia. The Warlock decided a dignified silence would be better than arguing with the Titan.

"Oh shit! He's going to do it!" An excited Jo reported to Archivia as she stared through the scope of her sniper rifle. She watched him load his rocket and toss it onto the building before awkwardly climbing on top himself.

"I told you he would." Archivia replied in an obviously forced bored tone as she started to read her book. She sat on a small camping stool and had a small heater next to her that now had a pot of tea placed on top. "Looks like you lose the bet."

"Hey, the bet will not be completed until I see some fucking results!" She snapped back.

That was when they heard it echo across the landscape in all of its glory, in Jo's opinion. Archivia only placed the palm of her hand on her face and breathed in slowly.

"Murder time!"

The following explosion was far over the top, to say the least. Through her scope Jo watched the nearest Dreggs just vaporize instantly. Several other Fallen were launched several hundred feet around the blast radius and some went airborne. She watched Raz smack away a flying Vandal with his rocket launcher before firing the first shot towards the panicking Baron.

The Baron didn't have time to dodge the rocket and the shield was depleted so the Baron took the brunt of the explosive and fell on its back in pain. It tried to get back to its feet but was knocked back down by Raz who had left his position on the building to deal with the stragglers.

.

Raz kicked the Baron in the side, breaking one of its four arms in the process and forcing it to fall onto its side. The Baron groaned in pain as it tried to fend off Raz's next kick and the mounting attempt the Human made. But it was powerless to the massive human.

"Nighty-night!" Raz shouted before charging his fist with Arc energy and striking the Baron in the head, killing it and tearing it apart in a burst of energy and leaving nothing left.

He barely had enough time to react as the wounded Captain leapt at him and latched onto his back. Giving off some guttural war cry the Captain wrapped it's hands around Raz's throat and the man fought back with a series of punches and kicks. He could feel the grip weaken, but the Fallen wouldn't give in and attempted to pull Raz off the ground.

"Don't worry Raz! I got this fucker!" He heard Jo's voice over their com link. Raz's eyes looked up and he could see the ridge, how in the Hell did she plan on taking down this Captain? They were both nearly the same size, unless- the sound of a sniper rifle and a brief lance of pain told him what her plan was. "Fuck! It didn't die! Hold on Raz!"

Before Raz could even groan out a reply he heard a series of more shots, and he could feel his armor right around his shoulders getting torn up. He was going to hurt her for this, but he needed to get out of this Captain's grip first. It didn't take long for the Captain to fall on it's back dead and Raz onto his face, coughing up blood. He was lucky his Ghost could pull his bits back together and fix him in moments. He could feel his body regenerating and the blood flow slowing after a few minutes of him swearing into the radio. He pushed himself up slowly to test if he wasn't about to die again and was satisfied that all of Fallen squad had been dealt with.

"Alright you little shit, let's go back and collect that bounty. I think someone owes me dinner and a bottle of whiskey." Raz spoke into the link created by his Ghost.

"Yeah, yeah, I know what I owe you, now get your ass back to the Tower first. Let's go guys." Jo's obviously disappointed tone carried over the frequency before the blip that represented her on his HUD vanished.

Raz didn't wait long to follow her up and he felt the sense of vertigo before he was being taken to his ship that was safely in orbit.

.

"Did you scan the wreckage in the area?"

"I am, that Titan did a number on the Fallen camp though. It's hard to distinguish what are ships and what is the newly departed walker." There was a pause as the sound of a Ghost scanning. "Here is something. I want you to look into it for me, Snow."

"Well you know I will. I have more data for you too; I'm transferring it to your Ghost now." Snow responded quietly. "You haven't told them yet, have you?"

"No, I don't know if I can trust the Human yet. Jo does, but only time will tell with him."

"Be careful Archivia. Some of my data indicates some Guardians are involved somehow, I can't point out how. But until we clear his name, be wary." Snow advised before he killed the connection.

Archivia looked at the landscape before calling herself back to her ship and taking off towards the Tower.

"Humans and Fallen working together? What is happening to this universe?" She commented to herself.

**Post A/N: Well I hope everyone liked this. IF you did, leave a comment or a review. You know, that would be nice. Also, Archivia belongs to RC927 and Watcher with the new Snow belong to Reilly.216. I truly appreciate the help these two have given me. So just remember, Keep on Keepin' on!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Almost didn't finish this fast enough. Been busy with work so here is a nice chapter in my opinion. Remember, Bungie and Activision own Destiny, not me.**

CH 6: A brief respite

It had been a few weeks since the destruction of the anti-air Fallen walker, and to Jo the bounties they were picking up only seemed to be getting weirder. She was trying to turn some of them down, but Archivia was pushing pretty hard for once to go out and do these bounties. Jo was fine with them, and she saw that Raz enjoyed himself out there too.

That man, she enjoyed his presence most of the time. But recently he was bugging her; the man had been siding more with Archivia on the bounties and actually disappearing to find her more often than not. The noise produced around her snapped her back into reality and she ground her teeth as she looked down at the very man she was thinking of.

She watched as he moved from one place to another and positioned himself again, and she enjoyed the ability this man was proving that he possessed. Her eyes narrowed as his hands came up to grab a hand that was in between his shoulder and neck. She could tell he was straining himself, his heavy breathing clear due to the large rises and falls of his chest.

When he gripped the hand he elicited a yelp of pain before he grasped the elbow with his other hand and launched the Hunter over him and into the Warlock behind him. The Warlock cried in surprise before his voice was cut short when they crashed into the wall. Raz took this moment to turn his head to see the other two competitors in the Rumble Pit, both Hunters, were well occupied with each other. Deciding that dealing with a fellow Hunter would be more ideal than the lone Titan or Warlock.

This small melee produced yells from the spectators who were all seated above the octagonal arena. The flat metal floor and high walls provided nowhere to hide or escape. Forcing all the occupants to fight to the last man or woman, and seeing who had the greatest survival instinct. To Raz, this was just all about luck mixed with an old fashioned brawl of disastrous proportions. He hated this place.

A sudden motion made Raz's head snapped back around as he watched the Hunter lazily roll back to her feet, and left the Warlock with her neck bent at the wrong angle. He took her sloppy recovery as an opportunity to race forward and to smash his shoulder into the Hunter and send her crashing into the wall again with enough force to form an impact crater.

With that Hunter out of the fight as well as the Warlock, Raz reached up slowly and took in a tentative breath before pulling that Hunter's knife out of the gap in his armor. He looked at it with distaste as he thought over the Pit rules. No firearms. All close quarters and the Hunters used knives, as well as Warlocks with their voodoo space magic. Titans fought with their bodies, their hands and feet, more honor and respect in that kind of kill.

Clutching the knife he took a sprinting start to close the gap between the one of the Hunters who was now dislodging his knife from the other unfortunate guy. Raz had to time this perfectly, if not, he would lose the match and get stabbed, again. The Hunter's visor came into sight as he realized the mass of armor was upon him. Without much time to mull over his decisions he crossed his arms in front of his head and stuck the blade out to hinder the Titan.

"Not gonna stop me!" Raz yelled out as he felt the knife bounce off his heavily armored chest piece. He jammed his own pilfered knife into the man's shoulder before punching him across the face. The Hunter crashed to the floor in a series of groans and an attempt to roll onto his stomach. This attempt was stopped as Raz dropped to one knee, grabbed the man's head and slammed it into the floor for an instant kill.

As Raz slowly made his way to his feet and ultimately, the exit he felt at his side where a brief stab of pain made him pause, his hand found another knife handle. The knife the last Hunter had used had gone down and slid into a different gap in his armor, and with his adrenaline he never felt it. He grunted as he pulled that out of him and dropped it on a bench, not caring who found it as he ambled slowly away.

.

Jo watched as Raz made his way to the locker room where he would get patched up and sent on his way. Archivia was absent from this match and that honestly hadn't really surprised her. What did was that Sushi was sitting next to her and was enjoying the fight.

"These Rumble Pit arena style fights are interesting, don't you agree Joanna?" Sushi began. "But why is Raz competing in it? He is barely quick enough to keep up with any of the other competitors and if those other Hunters had taken him seriously…" He trailed off knowing the Awoken woman would understand.

"Well he is competing because we have an agreement." Jo explained as she took a sip from her drink. "He tells Archivia what he remembers about Mars before it fell, and he pays for it by coming here to entertain me. That was his third victory this week."

"It's Saturday, and how many days did he compete this week?" Sushi was almost sure he knew the answer to that.

"Oh this is a daily thing." She paused to take another drink. "He isn't the best at CQB, but if anyone is dumb enough not to get out of his way. He bulldozes right over them, and that looks awesome."

"You enjoy other's pain too much, Joanna."

"Stop calling me that, I prefer Jo, remember?" Jo stood up suddenly and smiled at the Exo. "But for now, we are going to do something for him. I am a nice person you know, not always enjoying others in pain."

"You're not going to shoot him again are you? Well that is nice of you." Sushi paused as he mulled over a few things. "Hmmm, you going to buy him a new jumpship?" Sushi was only partially serious but Jo gave him a sarcastic laugh and flipped him the bird before bidding him farewell and taking off to find Raz.

.

When most people think of the Tower they think of pristine white walls and solid granite tiles with a perfect set of greenery to give the Guardians a nice place to relax. Most times it was like this, but not now, and it was still equally beautiful. The green grass and leaves had withered and died away, but were covered with a small layer of ice or snow. A thin blanket of snow covered most of the surfaces and was hardly disturbed by any wandering Guardian's footsteps.

That beauty however didn't stop an angry little Titan from stomping in it and kicking it around. Jo was sulking and doing her best at looking like a pouting child so the giant of a man, Raz, would give up on what they had set out to do with an excited Archivia. They were going to the Warlock's library.

"Why in the Hell are we going here? I thought we'd be going somewhere fun!" Jo whined behind the other two as she pulled her coat more tightly around her. "You told me it would a good time, Raz. A good time, you fuckin' liar!" She shouted accusatorily at the man.

"I never said it would be fun for everyone." Raz countered as he turned his head. The simple knit cap he wore kept his ears and shaved head plenty warm. "Besides, I've been trying to get Archivia to bring me here for the last three months and you owe me for all the arena fights I have to go through." He finished dryly.

"You make it sound like it's a torture session!" Jo indignantly replied to Raz's jab.

Archivia only nodded from the depths of her coat and parka. She was freezing and was amazed that Raz was wearing the cap and thin gloves with a simple jacket. Was the man invulnerable to the elements? She turned her head from the behemoth next to her and took a hold of a rail to aid her in climbing the steps to the Warlock's Tower.

"Why did I come?" Jo asked herself as she turned around. "You two kids have fun; I'm going back to the Titan Tower. When you're done here Raz, meet me in the gym, I'm gonna need a spotter that I can trust." She waved over her shoulder as she walked away.

"She doesn't trust the other Titans?" Raz curiously asked the Warlock as he offered her an arm to help stabilize her. She took his arm and was trying hard not to fall as she sorted her thoughts.

"No, she'll trust them elsewhere, like a battlefield." She sneezed and groaned in pain. "But not there, too many who just want to find a way into her bed. You Titans seem to be more of a base type of creature. Following your natural instincts and- GAH!"

Archivia was cut off as Raz pulled away from her and she had lost half of her support going up the slick steps. When she regained her bearings she glared at Raz from the depths of her hood and slowly shook her head before sniffling and pushing herself to climb the rest of the way up. While the man had little to no problem with the frozen staircase.

"How are you so good with the cold, and the snow?" Archivia asked suddenly.

"It got really cold on Mars at night, and even if you were wearing your enviro-suits you would still feel its bite through it and everything froze. So you get used to it when you work outside a lot." He informed her as he reached the top of the steps. "You learn how to take the cold and how to handle yourself on the ice, and not fall on your ass or your face."

Archivia felt her cheeks heating up and was thankful she had worn the scarf to cover her face. Her glowing eyes peeked over the top and to Raz that was slightly creepy. He took his eyes away from her to cross the small landing and the sensors on the door picked up the pair to let them in.

The wave of heat that slammed into Raz felt nice, but he could still feel the remains of the winter chill on his skin, it was pleasant. He took of the cap and turned to see Archivia's Ghost pulling all of her layers off, allowing her to actually move more than half a step at a time.

"Alright, let's begin your tour." She nodded and held out a hand suggesting he go in from the foyer first.

.

"I and this team will accompany you to the objective, which is this Devil Captain." Baron Grutek turned on a holo projector and it showed a much worn Elite Captain standing tall with his shock blades gripped loosely in each hand. "His name is one you might know. Verutiv Kras. The sane Captain who was ordered to kill you, if I read your reports correctly."

Watcher nodded slowly, he recognized the Captain. So the Devil had gotten himself promoted to a higher rank, this would make his revenge all the sweeter.

"But there is one issue now." Grutek nodded to the side and one of the Dreggs in the Skiff with them tapped a few buttons. A different Captain appeared next to Verutiv, and he was far larger than the former. "This is Sorric Tai, an Elder Captain of the House of Venom. We received intel that he and his hunting party were hired by the House of Thieves to kill him."

"My own House wants him dead huh? He works for them, or he did. I don't know now." Watcher added to the conversation. "Why is he being targeted?"

"The King's have custody of him and are going to interrogate him, but not after we get there. The Thief's most likely want whatever information he has to be kept to himself. So the kill mark was placed on him." Grutek closed the distance between himself and Watcher. "Sorric is not one to be trifled with, even alone. We must be careful, and be ready in case he decides he needs to kill some of the Kings that already have our target. We may be able to get him to wait, but I'm not positive." Grutek was whispering this; he didn't want his troops to know that he was being cautious about a potential enemy.

Watcher nodded after a moment, he understood the danger this implied. He was no fool; even reaching the rank of a Vandal took a lot of time, a Captain? Too much effort for just a rank.

"Good, we should be arriving now." Grutek nodded before reaching for his drop rail. "Pilot! Where are the Kings?" He yelled at the flight station when he didn't see anyone to greet him.

"I'm picking up only a few thermals, Baron Grutek! Something isn't right!" The pilot yelled back and looked out the view port to see where the other Fallen were.

"Sorric is here, Baron, you know it. It seems he didn't want to waste time in finding the Devil." Watcher informed before dropping himself out of the Skiff. That was when he spotted the first body; it was a King's Dregg.

The trail of bodies was obvious, and the few green House marks suggested that the Kings had put up some of a fight, but seeing the count and the way that the Kings bodies were strewn about. They were caught off guard and paid the price for it.

After following the trail they did find a few live Vandals, a few angry looking Venom Vandals. They had quickly snapped their weapons up and only hesitated when they spotted Watcher. One of them cautiously approached them before speaking.

"Why are you here? We are doing your job, and why do you bring the Thunder with you?" He was not asking the Baron, he was outright ignoring the larger Fallen in blue. But he was asking Watcher, and now it clicked. He was wearing his old House's mark, and they weren't privy to who he was, so he ran with it.

"I travel with whom I am ordered; you will get what is yours, so back off!" Watcher felt satisfied as the other Vandal nodded his head in acquiescence. "Now, where is the Devil? I have to gain some information from him before you kill him."

"Captain Sorric has him, and we will take you to them now." The Vandal motioned for them to follow as he turned around.

It didn't take long to reach them; only after passing a small stand of trees did they encounter the Captains. Sorric was holding the Devil Captain by his throat and a shock spear in his other hands and was poised for the kill. The sudden entrance of Watcher and the Thunder Fallen distracted him long enough from not killing the whimpering Captain.

"You will hold, Captain Sorric!" Watcher called out to the Captain. Whose response was a huff and he dropped Verutiv to the ground without a complaint.

"Don't hope you can take the bounty from us, Thief." The Captain's voice grated on Watcher's ears, it was rough and sounded like he had been stabbed in the voice box. "What is your name, so that I may remember you if you do." The Captain moved closer towards the new arrivals and made a grunting noise that had two lower Captains restrain Verutiv so he could not escape.

"I am called Mephistopales. But you can kill him, AFTER I ask him a few questions. I need information from him before you are to finish him." Watcher leaned his head back and turned slightly to Grutek and he whispered, "Use the bribe Ether you were planning on using for the hold off now. That should stop any bounty hunter." Grutek nodded before pointing to two of the Dreggs who were carrying Ether packs. They brought them forward and dropped them at Sorric's feet who nodded in agreement before stepping aside.

Watcher got in front of the kneeling Captain and lowered himself slightly, grunting with the effort he looked over the Captain. He was looking worse for wear, the Kings were not gentle with him, and he didn't care.

"Tell me, Captain, were you planning on running somewhere? You are far from Devil territory."

"No, the Kings raided a facility that I was guarding, and they took me instead of killing me." Verutiv's voice was weak and it sounded like he had been sobbing. Pitiful.

"Now I'm going to ask you something, and your answer can alter your fate. Why are really imprisoned, and why did Venom have to get involved?"

"I know of something, and the Kings seem to know I have some useful information." He paused to take his breath. "The location of your Ketch, the inside sources we have in the Reef and the Tower. Our plans and at least we can still keep a lid on it. But if I survive, that will be a first. The last time one of ours let information like this out, he was killed and his brother as well. I am glad that-" When the Captain finally looked up he stopped in horror. "You! I ran my blade through your-uggh!"

Watcher slammed a fist into the Captain's eye piece and watched as he fell onto the ground writhing in pain.

"Where are you holding that information!?" Watcher shouted at the Captain. Who shook his head in defiance. "Captain Sorric, you know what we do to those who are to become Dreggs?"

The dark chuckle that filled the air sent shivers down everyone's spines as they all knew what was coming, and the crackle of Sorric's shock spear locked that perception down tight. The screaming and begging were only rivaled by the tearing and ripping sounds that came from the Devil Captain. Watcher had to turn away as he watched Sorric cut, pull and tear off the lower arms of the other Captain.

With the Fallen fully humiliated he slowly reached for a pouch and pulled out a small sphere. He looked at Watcher pleadingly before it was snatched out of his hand by Watcher and he held it up to look at it in the light.

"Captain Sorric." Watcher addressed him. "Kill this Dregg." Verutiv screamed again and it was silenced quickly.

Grutek nodded to Sorric who bowed his head in respect to the Baron and walked away leading his troop to the Skiff where they would head back to the Thunder's Ketch for their next plan of action.

.

After all the Fallen had left a Guardian rose up from the white ground and brushed away the snow that had been hiding him from the other beings. He made sure that they had all left before approaching the dead Captain.

"Archivia will want to know about this, and I think we may have a clue as where to go next." Snow stated quietly as he had his Ghost take scans of the area and quickly returned to his jump ship so he could follow the Vandal and his Thunder companions. He wanted that data.

.

"I'm telling you Raz, these guys are the real deal and we have been doing quite a bit of darkness fighting." The enthusiastic voice of Corde was evident in the bar they were both drinking in. "I want you in man; I'm trying to talk the leader into it. He is a little on the, you know, Awoken only kick."

"Let me guess, he is Awoken?" Raz sarcastically asked as he took a drink from his beer. Speaking of Awoken he spotted Jo dancing out of the corner of his eye and he quickly turned away with a small tinge of red on his face. "Besides, I'm busy enough as it is with my own team. The leader is riding me ragged and so is her compatriot."

"That little thing is your leader?" Corde used the neck of his bottle to point towards the other Awoken. He gave a wolf whistle as he looked at her. "I'd jump on that quick if I were you man, before she gets taken."

"By who? You?" Raz laughed as he tapped his fingers on the bar for another bottle. "I don't think so Corde. She seems to like me, but I don't think she can tolerate an idiot like you."

The Awoken Titan made a sound like he was offended but laughed it off as he was notified by his Ghost that he had a message. He frowned as he read it.

"Well I hate to break up this reunion, but I have to go. We got a bounty to do, and it looks like it's a big one!" He slammed his bottle down and dropped some glimmer down as he nodded to Raz and left.

Corde let the door close behind him as he armored himself up. Pulling out his Ghost he called himself into orbit and set his course for Venus. His Ghost chimed in again and opened up a frequency.

"We lost one of our contacts, the Devil Captain. I think we need to move faster than we planned if we want this to work." Corde recognized the voice as his team leader. "The Thieves are getting impatient and want to get going to strike on the Wolves. So follow those coordinates I sent you and we are going to aggravate the House of Winter."

"But this is the Guardian Sparrow hub." Corde pointed out as he plugged in the exact data.

"Exaclty, the Wolves are there investigating an 'Awoken distress signal' that will go off in about an hour, and many Guardians will be there to see them there with broken equipment that doomed many other Guardians."

"Seems like it is too simple, but it should work. Tensions are already high." Corde smiled as his jumpship went to light speed.

**Post A/N: I hoped you like it, and remember, Archivia belongs to RC927, Watcher and Snow belong to Reilly.216 and the others are mine. I feel like this was more of a plot driving chapter than anything, so it is a bit shorter than the last one. I hope you enjoyed it and please review! So keep on keepin' on!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry this took so long to finish! I work for more than half the day everyday and recently it has been out of control. So I apologize profusely and will tell you this story will not die quietly, and it may go out rather sloppy if my pace keeps me from constant typing of this story. So, sorry again. As usual, I do not own Destiny, that belongs to Activision and Bungie. Now my favored readers, enjoy!**

CH. 7 Chasing shadows

The vastness of space has always intrigued mankind, and many other sapient species. This was the problem for Humanity. It had too many neighbors, and no one wanted to play nice with each other.

The constant thrum of the Human heavy frigate, Golden Trident, could be heard within its bulkheads by the crew and felt through the deck plating. This sound was rather soothing, but was interrupted by the constant chatter of crewmembers and maintenance personnel in the hangar of the ship.

"I'm telling you man, a guy I know in OPS told me this shit!" One of the several standing together whispered to his fellow workers. Their green painted suits and helmets designated them as maintenance and one man in purple, a fuel junkie.

"Man, don't go spreading this around the scuttlebutt. You know that is how people get thrown under the bus." Another in green whispered back. Looking over his shoulders quickly to make sure their supervisor was elsewhere.

"Why would I lie about this?" The first one shot back. "He told me they had gotten a few pings off of what looked like Seeder and Tomb ships! The Hive pushed past the Belt!"

"That would mean that they are either headed for Phobos or bypassing for Venus. We are off rotation with Earth currently." The man in purple pointed out.

"All these are rumors and speculations, we need fact. But just for the sake of curiosity. Smit! What do you think?" Another man called over to one of the few actually working on what looked like a bomber.

"I think you should all shut up, spreading rumors will just unsettle everyone, and then we lose work efficiency. So come on."

When Smit turned back to work he felt the ship come to a halt, and a severe heat wash over him. The sounds of yelling filled the air and he closed his eyes to focus on blocking out the sound. When he opened them he was holding a rifle in one of the passageways of the Trident. Several crew members were with him and the white flood lights had been switched for the dim red emergency lights. That was when the yelling turned into panicked screams.

Looking down he noticed they were at a barricade and the center could be swiveled in like a door. They were evacuating the Trident, the Hive had boarded them in a surprise attack. The initial defenses had been overrun in moments, and now the Hive were effectively hunting down any survivors. Smit had been gathered with a few others to hold certain points to allow more essential personnel to get to the escape pods and make sure the majority of the crew survived.

That was the plan. But it wasn't working all too well.

The piles of the Hive plus whatever remained of any Humans that the monsters had gotten to them first was strewn out before the barricade, and with the constant screams and howls. They knew that more people and Hive were coming and this was going to be a long night.

"We got another incoming!" A woman called out as she spotted a man come barreling around the corner and tried to maintain his balance as he ran over the bodies of the dead. "Open up the gate!" She called out and one of the men went to unlatch it.

"Oh fuck man! They're behind me!" The man called as another howl was heard and a pack of Thralls rushed around the corner followed by a trio of Acolytes.

"Get down! Get the fuck down man!" Someone yelled before gunfire erupted and forced the man to dive to the deck for safety.

The first wave of Thralls was cut down almost instantly and was quickly replaced by more of the hungry beasts. The cover fire from the Acolytes only gave the Thralls the chance to get within feet of the man before they were cut down by auto fire.

When the man had effectively made it through the barricade the little gate was swung shut and locked. It wouldn't do much to stop the Hive from advancing, but it would still give them some cover or if they needed to run they could and right now that seemed like the best plan.

After the last of the Acolytes hit the floor the little organization that this the crew had crumbled.

"Fuck this! Everyone to the lifeboats! Let's get going!" A woman yelled before turning on her heel and taking off down the passageway. Others quickly followed yelling for her to wait up.

"Shit! Come on Smit! They are going to leave our asses!" One of the men yelled as he took a quick look back down where the Hive had come.

Smit turned to run and seemed to be immediately at the escape pods squeezing his frame through the door and into one of the crash seats. He unfortunately seemed to get one near the door, and that led to the next problem in this crazy set of events.

A Thrall had decided to come inside with them.

"Fuck! Close the damned door!" Smit yelled as he was now grappling with the monster that was all teeth and claws. "Hurry up and-GAAHH!"

Smit's yell was cut off as the sudden rocking of the pod forced him closer to the Thrall and it managed to wrench one of its arms free to swipe at Smit. The claws dug into his shoulder and carried on down through his collar bone and him placing his arm at his chest saved him from letting it rip out his heart.

.

Raz woke up suddenly and jerked up in pain as he snapped his eyes open to not see the Thrall, but Jo's quarters. He slowed down his breathing as he closed his eyes and fell back onto what he assumed was the living room couch. He could feel his legs dangling off of one side and bitterly thought that she needed larger furniture.

Raz looked down and saw his scarred arm; his own resurrection did not get rid of the scars of his previous life. He lifted it and placed it on the top of his chest near his collar bone. This is where the rest of his scar would keep going up, and it reminded him that he wasn't invincible.

Hearing a small noise he turned to see Jo blearily walking into the room and rubbing one eye while the other was only cracked open. She covered up a yawn and stretched as she stopped several feet from her guest. He watched her carefully as her shirt went up to expose her stomach, and Raz turned his head away trying to hide his blush.

"Don't be so bashful now, babe. After last night I don't think you could be reserved anymore." She commented as she plopped down on the coffee table in front of the couch with a sly grin.

"Last night?"

"Oh yeah, it was great."

"Are you being serious? I don't remember doing anything at all."

"Yeah, it was when you got wasted and climbed the damn tree, sorry, I mean the 'Robot'."

Raz held his head in his hands and groaned. What the Hell happened last night? All he could remember was that after Corde had left that club and Jo came over. She had bought a large bottle of a florescent orange liquid. He was hesitant because of the glow, but it tasted awesome. Apparently it caused him to black out.

"It's true; we had to get a bunch of other Titans to get you out of that tree. A Hunter tried to but you picked him up like Donkey Kong and threw his ass out." She watched Raz for a reaction and continued. "You proceeded to go all out and claimed that he had not been worthy of your 'robot' friend. That's when the Titans stepped in and more or less smoked you out."

"How did it get that far? You didn't cut me off?" He pulled his head out of his hands to give her an accusatory glare.

"Hey! I had to leave, got a call from Archivia, said some guy has a special assignment for us. Has to do with all those Fallen patrols we have been wiping out. By the time I got back you had left the bar and had migrated to the tree out by the gunsmith pavilion." Jo got up and started to walk away. "So get your shit together, we leave in two hours for the wilds of Old Russia."

Raz watched her go and shook his head as she turned past the doorframe. He couldn't believe he let himself lose control last night. He grimaced as he stood from the couch and hissed at the contact the cold floor made with his feet.

"Damnit, where are my shoes?"

.

The Thunder Skiff was lazily floating along the wilderness that was Old Ukraine. The flight was rather uneventful after the crew had dealt with the Captain from the House of Venom. Sorric, that was a name to remember for the future. Watcher made sure to burn that name into his brain in case he ever ran into that ferocious creature in his future.

Grutek pushed his way towards Watcher and looked down at the Vandal skeptically before asking the obvious question.

"Was it worth that price? Was whatever you gained worth the dishonor of another?"

"For a Thief, yes." No hesitation, no remorse and no emotion. He would not let anything detract from this victory he had achieved.

"Well, that is your own path. But we must split ways here. We will drop you off with the Pike, but I have been summoned by the Kell to represent him." Grutek's chest puffed with pride as he spoke. "The Wolves have been harassing the borders off all the Houses and many of the Kells have called for a ceasefire to meet and discuss what must be done about that House. They call under the premise that we should discuss assisting one another and split the Reef between all the Houses who go and fight. I personally think that it is a trap, and that any who go will die." The dark chuckle that followed was full of mirth.

"Well, Baron Grutek, I wish you honor and glory in your fights ahead." Watcher cited and bowed his head in respect while placing a fist on his chest.

"May your aim stay sharp and your blade never still in the hunt." Grutek responded as he bowed his head back towards Watcher. "Now we must not keep the other Barons waiting, we must show up to aid the Kings since they can't even dress themselves without our aid."

His voice had picked up in the end and the cabin erupted into laughter as the Baron took a shot at their 'employers'. He proceeded to pull at a hatch and motioned for Watcher to jump down so that the Pike could be dropped after him and the Skiff could be on its way.

Watcher peeked through the open hatch and saw that the snowy ground had come to a stop, or better said, the Skiff had and he took that chance to leap through the circular hole and to the ground below. He could hear that the crew didn't wait long and that the Pike was detached shortly after he dropped.

The snow did little to cushion his fall and seemed to be more crunchy than anything, a thin layer of ice over the top made this so. He heard the solid thump of the Pike collide with the snow behind him, the repulsor pads did little to slow down the secondhand machine.

Watcher grunted in annoyance as the Skiff lazily floated away and left him in the cold. He would survive, the Fallen were very adaptable, but he wouldn't be happy with this. Especially after he began to inspect the Pike, it was definitely a used machine. Several pieces of the armor plating were missing and exposing the interior wires as well as the power nodes. This thing would catch fire in a heartbeat if looked at wrong, let alone get shot at.

His speculations were cut short as he heard the higher pitched sound of a jet engine, a Guardian ship. He was alone in foreign territory, a banged up Pike, and a Guardian was now about to pass by. Hopefully the creature of 'Light' would pass him by. But his luck sometimes would just give him a backhand to the face some days.

The jumpship that he had heard was flying low and slow, and it apparently had spotted the Skiff when it stopped and dropped him off. It was coming to investigate and Watcher needed to get hidden fast, and so he took off at a sprint for a small gathering of rocks. It was an obvious place, but it would give him a chance to set up a shot from most angles.

.

Snow had seen the Skiff stop and drop a single Vandal and a Pike. It normally wouldn't have caught his interest, but through the zoomed in screen of his ship he saw it was the Thief that had interrogated the Devil. He needed to talk with that Thief and it seemed that he had been granted that chance.

He felt himself become pulled apart and put back together on the ground as his Ghost Trans-matted him to the frozen earth below. The icy snow crunched under his boots and he was glad he wore his thicker robe today. His HUD was telling him that it was dipping into the negatives, and it was only the morning still.

He shook himself off as he kept his hands away from his body and scanned the surrounding area, letting his eyes hesitate on the lone Pike for a moment. He knew that any creature with any intelligence wouldn't use that for cover, and would get some distance between itself and the vehicle. That only left the patch of rocks about forty feet to his right, and he could feel the crosshairs on him now.

He swallowed a lump in his throat as he slowly made his way to the rocks, and was certain that he was definitely being watched. He didn't want to make any sudden moves and raised a hand to signify he was being peaceful.

"I am unarmed!" He called out as non threateningly as possible. "I only wish to discuss something, maybe make a deal with you!"

The silence that followed was heavy, and he swallowed hard again. Maybe this wasn't going to work?

"No kill!" A voice in rough English called out. "I no kill! You no kill! We have deal?"

"You have my word! As a Warlock of the Tower!"

The Fallen, a Vandal, slowly left the cover with it's rifle half raised. It was ready to fight if Snow posed any threat to it. But he didn't plan on aggravating the being much here, he needed to get something. The Vandal stopped about ten feet or so from him and looked around warily.

"You make deal?" The Vandal offered, the English was evidently self taught and was rough around the edges. But he seemed to understand the language well enough.

"Yes, I saw you, with the Venom and the Devil." He watched as the Vandal tilted his head to the side, good, that meant that he was thinking. "I want to know things that the Devil knew. I know you took something from him before he died. I want that."

The Vandal appeared to be thinking it over hard and had not come to a violent conclusion, his gun was now lowered and almost seemed to be forgotten.

"You look for Thief?"

"I don't know, but that Captain was connected to the Wolves somehow, and I need to figure that out soon."

"We make deal, this has location. You help me kill. Deal?"

Location? Well that might help him figure something about the Wolves sudden outburst towards Fallen held territories on Earth.

"Deal."

.

"You in position?"

"Yes, mom, I'm waiting on you two."

"Smartass, how about you Raz? You ready?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. As ready as I'll ever be. But answer me one thing, okay?"

"What's that?" Archivia and Jo answered at the same time.

"Why the Hell are you two using the radios to talk in the same room? Also, why the Hell am I the bait/counterweight?"

"Well why wouldn't we use a radio? We're trying to be fucking sneaky!"

"Plus." Archivia added on to Jo's argument. "You are the heaviest and the only one that can get this thing up."

Raz gave them both a deadpan stare behind his helmet before looking down into the ruined street from their vantage point. They had just gotten there after what looked like a turf war between Fallen Houses and had gotten lucky with what the two groups had left behind. One of which was apparently a high powered Fallen processing unit for their data. The area below must have been a camp for it to be there, and it was marked with a Wolves logo.

"Why don't we just have one of our Ghosts mine it for data? You know, and not have to take it to wherever you are going to tell me to carry it to." Raz groaned as he secured a composite rope to his waist. He looked out the window as Archivia dropped down and glided gently to the rubble below. "Too damn high." He muttered as he watched her wrap the other end of his rope to the giant piece of tech.

"Have you noticed something odd?" Jo asked suddenly. "It's really quiet here. The Fallen just seem, gone." She shrugged her shoulders lamely as Raz gave her a look.

"Jo's right, the two groups pulled out, and haven't come back to reclaim any salvage. This is strange." Archivia's voice came in over the radio.

"Don't jinx us you two, it would be nice for an easy mission for once." Raz inserted his opinion as he tested the rope and sighed before jumping out the window.

He watched as the rope went taut and felt it slow his fall as the piece of tech they were scavenging started to lift rapidly and it passed him quickly. His boots crunched the frozen pavement and he looked around cautiously for any sign of the Fallen. Nothing, it really seemed to be abandoned.

"Where the fuck is everyone?" He muttered. "Hey Archivia, where are we taking this?"

"We are going to just hold it in the building until we get coordinates from my contact. Until then, we will try to take as much data as we can, it's safer up there than trying to mine it from down here." She looked between where Raz and Jo were and turned on the frequency jammer that Snow had provided her. According to her friend's last message they were close and couldn't get the Tower involved. If they operated without the Tower's obvious aid, if they messed up the Tower would get off easy, that was the plan at least.

.

Guardians of all kinds had gathered at the entrance to the room where the Vanguard held council. There were several guards posted outside the sealed doors as the warriors of the Light yelled and threatened to get in. It was a terrible day in the Tower's history.

"I don't think I need to explain how bad the situation is, Speaker." Commander Zavala's voice was powerful enough to cut through the muffled shouts of the Guardians outside.

"An outright rebellion of Guardians, the closing of the Awoken Embassy and Venus' Ishtar Sparrow system shut down causing the deaths of Guardians all over the Ishtar Sink." Cayde-6 counted off. "That's not bad, Commander, that is horrific. We don't need a pissed of Awoken fleet to invade us while our Guardians are pushing us to go in and kill them first!"

"A lot of Awoken died at that hub, we are still trying to find out who fired first. The Guardians there, or that Awoken team that had responded to some call." Ikora commented dryly. "Too many died for something no one understands."

The Speaker of the Traveler held his chin in his hand as he thought quietly. When the leaders of the Vanguard had finished their pieces he sighed sadly.

"Too many are thinking of why it started, and not how we can finish it." He began softly. "Cayde you are right, we cannot afford a war with the Reef, even if our Guardians try to force our hand. They were all told to walk their own paths in the Light, but this will lead them to enter the Darkness if we are not careful in how we handle this. I will contact the Queen again and ask for a negotiation to happen at a sooner date." The Speaker folded his hands behind his back as he looked at the Vanguard leaders who were leaning on the table. "Now I feel that there is dissent among some of our own, find the few and we can stop it from destroying us before the Darkness can."

The leaders all nodded and watched as the Speaker left out a side passage.

"You catch all that Travis?" Cayde looked over his shoulder at a Hunter he had pulled aside before they sealed the doors. "We need you to find and track down these people who could be our own."

The Hunter nodded as he drew his pistol and checked the sight on it.

"I want access to communication logs, I want to know who was there, and if anyone is blocking themselves to the Tower. Because if they are, they wouldn't have gotten your recall message for all Guardians."

Cayde nodded as he went through some data and when he found the appropriate files, transferred them to Travis' Ghost.

"Good hunting, and may you walk in the Light."

"Thank you, and I will be swift." The man commented before trans-matting to his ship to study the list and narrow it down.

Today was his lucky day, only about forty Guardians or so had been jamming the Tower, three on Venus. With a little more digging, three others were associated with the first three. He had his first targets. Fireteam Orion which consisted of Jo, Raz, and Archivia. They had last been logged into the Old Russia Sparrow hub, that's where he would start.

**Post A/N: So I feel like I kind of rushed the end. But yeah, it happens when I don't have a whole lot of time anymore. So only expect sporadic updates, sorry.**** I hope it gives you all a hint at what I am planning.**

**Archivia belongs to RC927**

**Snow and Watcher are Reilly.216**

**and the new Travis belongs to LazyPersons, which I have to thank you. You gave me the right Guardian at the right time!**

**Keep on keepin' on Guardians!**

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End file.
